''Sebastes mentella'', the beaked redfish, deepwater redfin, ocean perch, Atlantic redfish, Norway haddock, red perch, golden redfish, or hemdurgan, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the subfamily

Sebastinae Sebastinae is a subfamily of marine fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae in the Order (biology), order Scorpaeniformes. Their common names include rockfishes, rock perches, ocean perches, sea perches, thornyheads, scorpion ...

, the rockfishes, part of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp ...

. This species is found in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Sebastes mentella'' was first formally described in 1951 by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Valentin Ivanovich Travin with the type locality given as the Bear Island Banks in the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

. The beaked redfish has been known to hybridise with the Acadian redfish (''S. fasciatus''). This species is classified within the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Sebastes'' by some authorities. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''mentella'' is a diminutive of ''mentum'' which means "chin", a reference to the obvious symphyseal knob.

Description

''Sebastes mentella'' has a elongated and compressed body with a deep head and a wide mouth, There are two spines on the preorbital bone with 1 or 2 spiny points above the

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

; the suborbital ridge has no spines and is typically not well marked and there are spines on the nasal, pre-ocular, supraocular and postocular and

parietal bone The parietal bones ( ) are two bones in the skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint known as a cranial suture, form the sides and roof of the neurocranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four bord ...

s. On the

symphysis A symphysis (, : symphyses) is a fibrocartilaginous fusion between two bones. It is a type of cartilaginous joint, specifically a secondary cartilaginous joint. # A symphysis is an amphiarthrosis, a slightly movable joint. # A growing together o ...

of the lower jaw there is a well developed and sharply projecting knob. The gill cover has no supplemental preopercular spine absent but all 5 preopercular spines are roughly equal in length, there is a supracleithral spine and 2 spines on the operculum of which the lower spine is directed downwards and forwards. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

has 14–16 spines and 13–17, typically 14 or 15 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

has 3 spines and 7–11, usually 9 soft rays. This species has reached a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

''Sebastes mentella'' is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It occurs from

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

south to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, around

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and Iceland, along the Iceland-Faroes ridge and northwards off Norway as far as

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norway, Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: la ...

and the Barents Sea. This is a

bathypelagic The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypela ...

, oceanic species which is found at depth between .

Biology

''Sebastes mentella'' is ovoviviparous, the females are inseminated by the males in August-September in the Barents Sea or from September to mid-December off Iceland. The eggs are fertilised in January and February in the Barents Sea or in March off Iceland. The larvae are released from the females during April to June. This is a gregarious species at all stages of its life cycle, It feeds on krill,

hyperiid The Hyperiidea is one ot the six suborders of amphipods, small aquatic crustaceans. Unlike some other suborders of Amphipoda, hyperiids are exclusively marine and do not occur in fresh water. Hyperiids are distinguished by their large eyes and ...

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

chaetognath The Chaetognatha or chaetognaths (meaning ''bristle-jaws'') are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. Commonly known as arrow worms, they are mostly pelagic; however about 20% of the known species ...

s and small fishes. This is a long lived species which may live as long as 75 years in the Nova Scotia stock, although elsewhere a maximum age of 65 years is typical.

Fisheries

Sebastes mentella is caught using

trawl Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch di ...

s. There is a major commercial fishery targeting this species but this is closely monitored. In 2006 the total catch landed was .

Sustainable consumption

In 2010,

Greenpeace International Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity" and focuses its ...

added the deepwater redfish to its seafood red list: "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries."Greenpeace International Seafood Red list
/ref>

References

Postverk Føroya
(Public Domain) {{Taxonbar, from=Q1700062 Sebastes Commercial fish Fish described in 1951