Wreckfish

{{Short description|Genus of ray-finned fish}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Polyprion americanus.png | image_caption = Atlantic wreckfish, ''Polyprion americanus'' | parent_authority = Bleeker, 1874<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue =2 | pages = 001–230}}</ref> | taxon = Polyprion | authority = Oken, 1817 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = see text }}

The '''wreckfish''' are a small group of ray-finned fish in the genus '''''Polyprion''''', belonging to the monotypic family '''Polyprionidae''' in the order Acropomatiformes.<ref name = CofF />

They are deep-water marine fish and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (thus their common name).<ref name = BSF>{{cite web | url = https://britishseafishing.co.uk/wreckfish/ | title = Wreckfish | access-date = 2 April 2020 | publisher = British Sea Fishing}}</ref> Their scientific name is from Greek ''poly'' meaning "many" and ''prion'' meaning "saw", a reference to their prominent spiny fins.<ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase|Polyprion|americanus|month=December|year=2019}}</ref>

Atlantic wreckfish (''Polyprion americanus'') are a long-lived commercial species in the Mediterranean, the south-eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="Sedberry et al. 1999">{{cite journal|last1=Sedberry |first1=George R. |display-authors=etal |year=1999 |title=Wreckfish ''Polyprion americanus'' in the North Atlantic: fisheries, biology, and management of a widely distributed and long-lived fish |journal=American Fisheries Society Symposium |volume=23 |pages=27–50 |url=http://homepages.gac.edu/~jcarlin/downloads/LifeSlowLane.pdf |access-date=5 April 2015}}</ref>

== Taxonomy == There are two species:<ref name = FishBase>{{FishBase family|family=Polyprionidae|month=December|year=2019}}</ref><ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Polyprionidae|access-date=1 November 2024}}</ref><ref name = CofF2>{{Cof family|family=Lateolabricidae|access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>

* ''Polyprion americanus'' <small>(Bloch & Schneider, 1801)</small> (Atlantic wreckfish) * ''Polyprion oxygeneios'' <small>(Schneider & Forster, 1801)</small> (Hāpuku)

The genera ''Lateolabrax'' and ''Stereolepis'' have previously been classified in Polyprionidae, but they are currently placed in their own monogeneric families Lateolabracidae and Stereolepididae.<ref name = CofF2/><ref name = CofF3>{{Cof family|family=Stereolepididae|access-date=1 November 2024}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Polyprionidae