The Okhotsk atka mackerel (''Pleurogrammus azonus''), also known as the Arabesque greenling, is a

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

-like species in the family

Hexagrammidae Hexagrammidae, the greenlings, is a family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the suborder Cottoidei in the order Scorpaeniformes. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy Hexagrammidae was first proposed as a family i ...

. It is commonly known as hokke in Japan and imyeonsu in Korean. The primary population of the fish is found off the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

. According to legend, it was discovered by Nichiji.

Distribution and habitat

The Okhotsk atka mackerel is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean occurring in Primorskii Krai in Russia, the

east to the Kuril Islands south to Ibaraki Prefecture and Tsushima in Japan and the Yellow Sea. It is an oceanodromous,

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

found at depths from the surface to .

Taxonomy

The Okhotsk atka mackerel was first formally described in 1913 by the American ichthyologists

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

and

Charles William Metz Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

with its type locality given as

Nampo Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...

in North Korea. This species is occasionally considered synonymous with the

Atka mackerel The Atka mackerel (''Pleurogrammus monopterygius'') is a mackerel in the family Hexagrammidae. Atka mackerel are common in the northern Pacific ocean, and are one of only two members of the genus '' Pleurogrammus'' - the other being the Arabesqu ...

, ''P. monopterygius'' (Nelson 1994). However, it is probably a separate species.* Crow, Karen D., Ziyusei Kanamoto, and Giacomo Bernardi.
Molecular phylogeny of the hexagrammid fishes using a multi-locus approach
. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32 (2004) 986–997 This fish was also documented as ''Stellistius katsukii'' but the older name ''Pleurogrammus azonus'' takes precedence.

Biology

The juvenile Okhotsk atka mackerel gather in large schools close the surface but the adults are benthic. The females lay egg masses within crevices or in gravel along rocky coasts at depths of less than , these are guarded by the males.

As food

Fisheries capture of Pleurogrammus azonus

The Okhotsk atka mackerel is an important fish, and approximately 100,000 tons of the species were harvested each year throughout the late 20th century. Known in Japanese cuisine as '' hokke'' and in

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient agricultural and nomadic traditions in Korea and southern Manchuria, Korean cuisine reflects a complex interaction of the natural envi ...

as imyeonsu ( 임연수), the fish can be fresh, dried, or frozen, and can be served raw, boiled, grilled or fried.

Notes

References

* * Nelson, J.S., 1994.

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

. Wiley, New York. * Shinohara, G. and K. Amaoka, 1994. Stellistius katsukii Jordan & Tanaka, 1927, a junior synonym of Pleurogrammus azonus Jordan & Metz, 1913 (Scorpaeniformes: Hexagrammidae). Jap. J. Ichthyol. 40(4):487-490. {{DEFAULTSORT:mackerel, atka, Okhotsk Okhotsk atka mackerel Sea of Okhotsk Okhotsk atka mackerel