Wreck bass
| Wreck bass | ||||||||||||
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Wreck perch ( Polyprion americanus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Polyprion americanus | ||||||||||||
| ( Bloch & Schneider , 1801) |
The wreck perch ( Polyprion americanus ) is a species of the family of the same name ( Polyprionidae ) within the perch relatives . The fish, which is partly threatened with extinction, lives in the eastern and western Atlantic and the Mediterranean; it also uses shipwrecks as hiding places, which is where it got its name.
features
The wreck perch reaches a length of up to two meters and a weight of up to 45 kilograms, the maximum weight published was 100 kg. He has a stocky, high back and laterally flattened body with a large head. The mouth is above and reaches under the large eyes. The back and sides of the fish are brown to blue-green, young fish have irregularly distributed dark spots.
In contrast to the groupers , to which it was previously counted, the gill cover has only a pointed thorn instead of the jagged edge. The dorsal fin is large and notched behind the 11 hard rays, followed by 11 to 12 soft rays. The anal fin has 3 hard and 8 to 10 soft rays.
distribution
The wreck perch is a reef and rock inhabitant found in the east and west Atlantic as well as in the Mediterranean . It is distributed in the eastern Atlantic from Norway to the coast of South Africa as well as around the Canary and Cape Verde Islands and in the Mediterranean. In the western Atlantic, the range extends from Newfoundland , Canada , to North Carolina , and off the South American coast from Uruguay to Argentina . It is documented in the western Indian Ocean in the area of the island of Amsterdam and in the southwestern Pacific off New Zealand .
Way of life
The fish are true to their location loners and live at depths of up to 1,000 meters above the sandy and rocky sea floor, according to other sources, the maximum depth is around 600 meters and the fish are usually around 100 to 200 meters deep. Occasionally the animals migrate to regions closer to the coast. Adult animals often stay in caves and also in shipwrecks.
They feed mainly on crustaceans , cephalopods and smaller fish.
Danger
In the IUCN Red List , the wreck perch is listed in the “data deficient” category due to its largely unknown population size. The Brazilian population was classified as "critically endangered" in the IUCN Red List due to the strong fishing pressure and is therefore threatened with extinction.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Polyprion americanus Brazilian subpopulation in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009.2. Listed by: Cornish, AS & Peres, MB, 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d wreck perch on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ a b c d e Andreas Vilcinskas : Fish. Central European freshwater species and marine fish from the North and Baltic Seas. BLV, Munich 2000; P. 154, ISBN 3-405-15848-6 .
- ↑ Polyprion americanus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009.2. Listed by: Sadovy, Y. (Grouper & Wrasse Specialist Group), 2003. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
literature
- Andreas Vilcinskas : Fish. Central European freshwater species and marine fish from the North and Baltic Seas. BLV, Munich 2000; P. 154, ISBN 3-405-15848-6 .
Web links
- Wreck perch on Fishbase.org (English)