John Dory

The John Dory, also called St Pierre or Peter's fish, is a demersal coastal marine fish of the genus Zeus, with a laterally compressed, olive yellow body marked by a large dark spot and long spines on its dorsal fin. Its forward facing eyes give it stereoscopic vision for hunting, and the dark spot on its flank is thought to confuse prey before the fish draws them into its large, extendable mouth. It lives near the seafloor at depths of 5 to 360 metres, usually alone, across the Mediterranean, the northeastern Atlantic from North Africa to Norway, seas around Japan, Southeast Asia, and the waters of New Zealand and Australia. In New Zealand, Maori people are recorded giving preserved John Dory to Captain James Cook during his 1769 voyage, and the species remains valued both as food and for its place in coastal cultural history; it is listed as Data Deficient.