Freckled driftfish
Psenes cyanophrys
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Freckled driftfish
- Scientific
- Psenes cyanophrys
- Dhivehi
- އޮއިމަސްOimas
- Family
- Nomeidae (driftfishes)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 23 cm (standard length) (FishBase); MRS 1997 gives max. 20 cm
- Depth and habitat
- Deep open water, recorded from 20 to 550 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2013
Description
A small, pale grey-brown driftfish with a silvery sheen and many dark horizontal lines, reaching about 23 cm. It shelters under drifting seaweed, debris and jellyfish in the open ocean.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi name oimas (MRS 1997). MRS records specimens caught in drift gillnets during an offshore fisheries survey in 1987-88.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Psenes-cyanophrys.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/އޮއިމަސް
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Psenes_cyanophrys.jpg
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives (FAO/BOBP MAG/21) gives 'Oimas, Fiyala dhari' (Latin form). Thaana from the Dhivehi Wikipedia article 'އޮއިމަސް' (derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition); it matches the Latin form. FishBase also lists 'Fiyala-dari' under India (Minicoy/Lakshadweep Mahl dialect); not used. FLAG: the source states no traditional name was recorded and this descriptive name was coined for the book; it is not an established fishermen's name.