[2] The black pomfret was first scientifically described by German-Jewish medical doctor and naturalist, Marcus Elieser Bloch in his encyclopaedia of fish, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische.

[4] The black pomfret has a compressed deep body with dorsal and ventral profiles being equally convex.

[6] The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations describes the black pomfret as having single row of conical teeth with gill openings unrestricted both laterally and ventrally.

[7] The black pomfret is found off the coast of South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Persian Gulf, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, southern Japan and Australia.

Steven Dadzie of the Department of Biological Sciences at Kuwait University in his journal article, Food and Feeding Habits of the Black Pomfret, Parastromateus Niger (Carangidae) in the Kuwaiti Waters of the Arabian Gulf writes of the food and feeding habits of the black pomfret in the waters surrounding Kuwait.

A journal article by P. Vigneshwaran, S. Ravichandran and M. Prema of the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University in India write of the impact of the parasitic isopod Cymothea eremita on the black pomfret.

Studies suggest that the deformity is caused by pollution, nutritional deficiency or genetic mutation.