Zenopsis Zeus The Zeidae (named after the fish zaeus from Pliny the Elder) are a family of large, showy, deep-bodied zeiform marine fish—the "true dories".

All species are important and highly regarded food fish supporting commercial fisheries, and some—such as the John Dory (Zeus faber)—are enjoyed in large public aquaria.

There is a perceptible hump in the back beginning just behind the eye; it is topped by a conspicuous, crest-shaped spinous dorsal fin containing 7–10 spines which descend in height towards the posterior.

A second, much lower dorsal fin (with 22–37 soft rays) extends down the rest of the back, in a slight retrorse direction due to the body's curvature.

Coloration in life is typically a highly lustrous silver, with younger dories covered in a number of randomly placed dark, dusky spots.

The Zeidae are top predators in their habitat and are noted for their marked stenophagy: juveniles feed exclusively on zooplankton, such as copepods, euphausiids, mysids, apheids, pandalids, palaemonids, and other small crustaceans.

Conversely, adults feed almost exclusively on active schooling fish, such as pearlsides, porgies, young carangids (e.g., mackerels), and clupeids (e.g., sardines and pilchards); and other benthic fish, such as dragonets, gobies, filefish, flatfish, bandfish, and sea chubs; and occasionally on cephalopods such as squid and cuttlefish.