Atlantic wreckfish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Atlantic wreckfish | ||||||||||||||
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 From plate 66 of Oceanic Ichthyology by G. Brown Goode and Tarleton H. Bean, published 1896.
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| Polyprion americanus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) |
The Atlantic wreckfish, Polyprion americanus, is a marine, bathydemersal, and oceanodromous fish in the family Polyprionidae. It is found in the Eastern and Western Atlantic Ocean, Western Indian Ocean, and in the Southwest Pacific Ocean.
Atlantic wreckfish are deep-water fish and can be found on the ocean bottom at depths between 40 and 600 m (130 to 2,000 ft), where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (thus their name). They are largely a solitary fish, however juveniles will school below floating objects. Wreckfish are oviparous fish that spawn in the summer. They do not guard their eggs or young. Also known as Stone Bass, because it inhabits rocky ledges and wrecks
The diet of Atlantic wreckfish consists mainly of large ocean cephalopods, crustaceans, and other bottom-dwelling fishes. The fish are most important as a game fish, reaching a maximum reported length of 210 cm (7 ft) and weight of 100 kg (220 lb). They are also occasionally sold commercially both fresh and frozen.
[edit] References
- "Polyprion americanus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
- Polyprion americanus (TSN 167914). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on July 6, 2005.
- Sadovy, Y. (2003). "Polyprion americanus." 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2004.
