{{Short description|Family of ray-finned fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Serravallian|present|Middle Miocene to present}} | image = Hexagrammos stelleri 550562138 (cropped).jpg | image_caption = Whitespotted greenling<br>(''Hexagrammos stelleri'') | image2 = Long Lingcod.jpg | image2_caption = Lingcod<br>(''Ophiodon elongatus'') | taxon = Hexagrammidae | display_parents = 3 | authority = Jordan, 1888<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://www.researchgate.net/publication/268078514 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 001–230 | doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref> | parent_authority = Shinohara, 1994<ref name = M&E2003>{{cite journal | author1 = Catherine W. Mecklenburg | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | name-list-style = & | year = 2003 | title = Family Hexagrammidae Gill 1889 Greenlings | journal = California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes | volume = 2 | url = https://www.calacademy.org/sites/default/files/assets/docs/hexagrammidae.pdf}}</ref> | type_species = ''Hexagrammus stelleri'' | type_species_authority = Tilesius, 1810<ref name = CofF/> | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = see text }} [[File:Pleurogrammus azonus.jpg|thumb|right|Okhotsk atka mackerel (''Pleurogrammus azonus'')]]
'''Hexagrammidae''', the '''greenlings''', is a family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the suborder Cottoidei in the order Perciformes. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Ocean.
==Taxonomy== Hexagrammidae was first proposed as a family in 1888 by the American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan.<ref name = VDLEF/> The 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' classifies this family as the only family in the monotypic superfamily '''Hexagrammoidea''' within the suborder Cottoidei of the diverse order Scorpaeniformes.<ref name = Nelson5>{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=467–495 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other workers have found that if the Scorpaeniformes, as delimited in ''Fishes of the World'', is not included in the Perciformes it renders the Perciformes paraphyletic. These workers retain the Cottoidei as a suborder within the Perciformes while reclassifying Hexagrammoidea as the infraorder Hexagrammales.<ref name = Deepfin>{{cite journal | author1 = Ricardo Betancur-R | author2 = Edward O. Wiley | author3 = Gloria Arratia | author4 = Arturo Acero | author5 = Nicolas Bailly | author6 = Masaki Miya | author7 = Guillaume Lecointre | author8 = Guillermo Ortí | display-authors = 3 | title =Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes | journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 17 | issue = 162 | year = 2017 | page = 162 | doi = 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3 | pmid = 28683774 | pmc = 5501477 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2017BMCEE..17..162B }}</ref> The family Zaniolepididae has been included within the Hexagrammidae, as the subfamilies Zaniolepidinae and Oxylebiinae, but ''Fishes of the World'' and Betancur ''et al'' classify these taxa as distinct from the Hexagrammidae.<ref name = Nelson5/><ref name = Deepfin/> Placing these two families in their own monotypic superfamilies was originally proposed in 1994 by Gento Shinohara.<ref name = M&E2003/>
==Subfamilies and genera== Hexagrammidae contains the following subfamilies and genera:<ref name="CofF">{{Cof family|family=Hexagrammidae|access-date=August 7, 2025}}</ref>
* Subfamily Ophiodontinae <small>Jordan & Gilbert, 1883</small> (lingcods) ** Genus ''Ophiodon'' <small>Girard, 1854</small> * Subfamily Oxylebiinae <small>Gill</small><small>, 1862</small> (painted greenlings) ** Genus ''Oxylebius'' <small>Gill, 1862</small> * Subfamily Hexagramminae <small>Jordan, 1888</small> (greenlings) ** Genus ''Hexagrammos'' <small>Tilesius, 1810</small> *Subfamily Pleurogramminae <small>Rutenberg, 1954</small> (Atka mackerels) ** Genus ''Pleurogrammus'' <small>Gill, 1861</small> The following fossil genera are also known:
* Genus †''Achrestogrammus'' <small>Jordan, 1921</small> (Late Miocene of California, US)<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Nazarkin |first=Mikhail Valerievich |date=1997 |title=A New Genus and Species of Greenling (Hexagrammidae) from the Miocene of Sakhalin Island |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273761229_A_New_Genus_and_Species_of_Greenling_Hexagrammidae_from_the_Miocene_of_Sakhalin_Island |journal=Journal of Ichthyology |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=5-13}}</ref> * Genus †''Paraophiodon'' <small>Nazarkin, 1997</small> (mid-late Miocene of Sakhalin, Russia)<ref name=":0" /> * Genus †''Sakhalinia'' <small>Nazarkin, Carnevale & Bannikov, 2013</small> (mid-Miocene of Sakhalin, Russia)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nazarkin |first=Mikhail V. |last2=Carnevale |first2=Giorgio |last3=Bannikov |first3=Alexandre F. |date=2013-07-01 |title=A new greenling (Teleostei, Cottoidei) from the Miocene of Sakhalin Island, Russia |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.746692 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=794–803 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2013.746692 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Characteristics== Hexagrammidae have cirri but do not have ridges or spines on their heads, They have between one and five lateral lines and may have cycloid or ctenoid scales. There is a single dorsal fin which is notched and contains between 16 and 28 spines and 11 and 30 soft rays. There is a single spine and 5 soft rays in the pelvic fin. The front nostril on each side of the snout is well developed but the rear nostril may be absent or if it is there it is merely a small pore. The anal fin may have upn to 3 spines, or there may be no spines, and 6 or 7 soft rays. There is no swimbladder.<ref name = Nelson5/> The largest species is the lingcod (''Ophiodon elongatus'')which has a maximum published total length of {{cvt|152|cm}} but typically they are {{cvt|50|cm}} or less in length.<ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase family|family=Hexagrammidae|month=August|year=2022}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== Hexagrammidae is endemic to the North Pacific Ocean where they are found in the subarctic and temperate regions, with a single species, the whitespotted greenling ''Hexagrammos stelleri'', being found in the Arctic Ocean too. They occur from the intertidal zone to as deep as {{cvt|600|m}} but most are found in waters of depths of less than {{cvt|200|m}} on the continental shelf.<ref name = M&E2003/>
==Biology== Hexagrammidae greenlings are demersal fishes, except for the pelagic ''Pleurogrammus'', and they feed on crustaceans, polychaetes, small fishes and fish eggs.<ref name = M&E2003/>
==Utilization== Hexagrammidae greenlings are fished for, the coastal species are fished for using hook and line and spears and in the late 20th and early 21st centuries the kelp greenling (''Hexagrammas decagrammus'') has become a target of a commercial fishery, while historically the lingcod (''O. elongatus'') and the atka mackerels of the genus ''Pleurogrammus'' have been the most targeted species.<ref name = M&E2003/>
==References== {{Reflist}} * {{ITIS|ID=167108 |taxon=Hexagrammidae}} * {{FishBase family | family = Hexagrammidae | month = February | year = 2006}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1552315}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Hexagrammidae Category:Perciformes families * Category:Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Category:Serravallian first appearances