Deep Sea Perch

Bright brick-red in color, mouth and gill cavity bluish black (Ref. 4181). Ventral scutes: 19-25.

Orange roughy are synchronous annual spawners (Ref. 7030). They form dense spawning aggregations over sea hills and slopes. Eggs and sperms are shed into the water at the same time. Individual males appear to spawn over a 1-2 week period and females spawn for up to 1 week. Little is known of the larvae and juveniles.

Oceanodromous. Migrating within oceans typically between spawning and different feeding areas, as tunas do. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km.

Dorsal spines (total): 4 - 6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 15 - 19; Analspines: 3; Analsoft rays: 10 - 12

Found on the continental slope (Ref. 75154). Orange roughy feed opportunistically on bentho-pelagic and meso-pelagic fish, crustaceans, and squid. Juveniles feed mainly on crustaceans whereas adults prefer fish and squids. They appear to have moderately high rates of food consumption (Ref. 27075). Dietary changes may be linked to modifications in morphology with growth (Ref. 27076). Little is known of the larvae and juveniles, which do not appear to aggregate (Ref. 6390).

Inhabits deep, cold waters over steep continental slopes, ocean ridges and sea-mounts. Shallow range of usual occurrence from Ref. 27121. Appears to be dispersed over both rough bottoms and steep, rough grounds where it feeds on crustaceans and fish. In New Zealand, the main prey include mesopelagic and benthopelagic prawns, fish, and squid, with other organisms such as mysids, amphipods and euphausiids occasionally being important (Ref. 9072). Juveniles feed mainly on crustaceans (Ref. 27075, 27076). Grows very slowly and is one of the longest lived fish species known. Based on parasite and trace-element analyses, orange roughy is a sedentary species with little movement between fish-management zones (Ref. 27089). Little is known of the larvae and juveniles which are probably confined to deep water (Ref. 27088). The fishery targets sporadically formed dense spawning and non-spawning aggregations. Marketed fresh and frozen; eaten steamed, fried, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988). Because of severe overfishing the species has been listed as threatened by the Australian Government in 2006.

fisheries: highly commercial; price category: medium; price reliability: reliable: based on ex-vessel price for this species