Coryphaena equiselis
Linnaeus, 1758 · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Coryphaena equiselis's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation12 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 795 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System1 766 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI57 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics55 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The pompano dolphinfish (Coryphaena equiselis) is a species of surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in tropical and subtropical waters. They are one of only two members of the family Coryphaenidae, the other being the mahi-mahi or common dolphinfish. Pompano dolphinfish have a lifespan of three to four years. They are often mistaken for juvenile mahi-mahi; they are somewhat smaller than the related mahi-mahi, only reaching a maximum total length of 127 cm. Pompano dolphinfish have compressed heads and dorsal fins extending the entire length of their bodies. Mature males develop a protruding forehead, but not to the same extent as male mahi-mahi. Their backs are a brilliant blue-green, and their sides are a silvery-golden color. When they are removed from the water, the fish fade to a muted green-grey upon death. Despite the similar names, this fish is not related to the marine mammals also known as dolphins (family Delphinidae). See Coryphaena for the possible etymologies of "dolphinfish". Pompano dolphinfish are carnivorous, feeding primarily on small fish and squid. Pompano dolphinfish are popular as a game fish in the waters off South America, and are sometimes eaten as a substitute for swordfish because of their firm texture and sweet flavour.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Life cycle & reproduction1
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Coryphaena equiselis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type3 561 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions12 of 33 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 502 |
| Cambridge, US | 129 |
| Washington, US | 92 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 75 |
| Toronto, CA | 74 |
| Tapachula, MX | 59 |
| Sydney, AU | 35 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 34 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 29 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 19 |
| Honolulu, US | 12 |
| New Haven, US | 9 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 8 |
| Oregon State Universitylocation not on record | 8 |
| Paris, FR | 6 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 5 |
| Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record | 5 |
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 4 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 4 |
| CASlocation not on record | 4 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 3 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 3 |
| Vancouver, CA | 2 |
| Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 2 |
| Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras José Benito Vives de Andréis (INVEMAR)location not on record | 2 |
| Stockholm, SE | 1 |
| IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record | 1 |
| Food Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherieslocation not on record | 1 |
| Fisheries Research Laboratory, Mie Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record | 1 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 1 |
| Australian Museum, Sydneylocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Coryphaena equiselis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.