Wreckfish | |
---|---|
Atlantic wreckfish, Polyprion americanus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Perciformes |
Superfamily: | Percoidea |
Family: | Polyprionidae Bleeker, 1874[1] |
Genera | |
see text |
The wreckfish are a family, Polyprionidae in the suborder Percoidei of the order Perciformes.[2]
They are deep-water marine fish and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (thus their common name).[3] Their scientific name is from Greek poly meaning "many" and prion meaning "saw", a reference to their prominent spiny fins.[4]
Atlantic wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) are a long-lived commercial species in the Mediterranean, the south-eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.[5]