Arabesque greenling

The Arabesque greenling (Pleurogrammus azonus) is a species of mackerel used in Japanese cuisine.

The primary population of the fish is found off of the Sea of Okhotsk. According to legend, it was discovered by Nichiji.

Uses

Known as hokke in Japanese, the fish can be enjoyed fresh, dried, or frozen, and can be served raw, boiled, grilled or fried.

Taxonomy

P. azonus is occasionally considered synonymous with the Atka mackerel, P. monopterygius (Nelson 1994), and thus is sometimes referred to as the "Okhotsk Atka mackerel". However, in reality it is probably a separate species (Crow et al. 2004).

This fish was also documented as Stellistius katsukii but the older name Pleurogrammus azonus takes precedent.

References

• Jordan, D. S. and C. W. Metz. "A catalog of the fishes known from the waters of Korea." Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum v. 6 (1913): 1-65, Pls. 1-10.
• Crow, Karen D., Ziyusei Kanamoto, and Giacomo Bernardi. "Molecular phylogeny of the hexagrammid fishes using a multi-locus approach". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32 (2004) 986–997
• Nelson, J.S., 1994. Fishes of the World. Wiley, New York.
• Shinohara, G. and K. Amaoka, 1994. Stellistius katsukii Jordan & Tanaka, 1927, a junior synonym of Pleurogrammus azonus Jordan & Metz, 1913 (Scorpaeniformes: Hexagrammidae). Jap. J. Ichthyol. 40(4):487-490.
• http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/2534
• http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Speciessummary.php?id=510