Hexagrammos decagrammus
Kelp Greenling
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Hexagrammidae (Greenlings)
Hexagrammos
Hexagrammos decagrammus (Kelp Greenling)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal. Caudal broadly rounded or truncate.
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Amchitka Island, in the Aleutian chain (Ref. 27436) to La Jolla, southern California, USA.
Habitat Associations
Marine. demersal.
Biology
Occurs in rocky inshore areas, common on kelp beds, also on sand bottoms (Ref. 2850). Feeds on crustaceans, polychaete worms, brittle stars, mollusks, and small fishes (Ref. 28499). Young are food of steelheads and salmon (Ref. 6885). Frequently caught by shore and skiff fishers and speared by divers (Ref. 2850).
Max length: 61.0 cm TL; max weight: 2100 g; max age: 18 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; guarders; parental care: paternal.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-12-02. Resilience: Medium (tm=3-5; tmax=18).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish; aquarium: public aquariums.
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Lamb, A. and P. Edgell (1986) Coastal fishes of the Pacific northwest. Madeira Park, (BC, Canada): Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., 224 p.
Coleman, R.M. (1999) Parental care in intertidal fishes. p. 165-180. In M.H. Horn, K.l. Martin and M.A. Chotkowski (eds.) Intertidal fishes: life in two worlds. Academic Press, USA. 399 p.
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