The Atka mackerel was originally described under the genus Labrax, but has since been moved to Pleurogrammus. Both names are attributed to Peter Simon Pallas, who published his description of the fish in 1810, roughly a year before his death.[2]
Atka mackerel were once considered to be synonymous with Arabesque greenlings.[3] The combined species would have been called the Okhotsk Atka mackerel, a name now used only for the greenling. The two fishes are, in reality, two distinct species.[4]
A closeup of the head and face of an Atka mackerel.
Able to live up to 14 years,[5] the largest Atka mackerel recorded was 56.5 centimetres (22.2 in) long;[5] the heaviest recorded weight was 2.0 kilograms (4.4 lb).[6] Adults have five vertical, blackish bands on their bodies,[7] which are normally yellowish. Atka mackerel can be distinguished from other, similar species by the number of spines and rays that they have on their fins. They have 21 spines, and anywhere from 25-29 rays on their dorsal fins, and only one spine (but 24-26 rays) on their anal fins.[8]
They migrate from shelves to coastal waters to spawn which occurs (in the Aleutians) from July to September. Their eggs adhere to crevices in the rocks, and incubate for 40–45 days. Males guard the clutches of eggs until they hatch.[11]
The fish were in schools and it was easy to get great numbers; in fact, one would be kept very busy hauling in the fish and taking them off the hook... When first hooked they would come up very readily, in fact they seemed to swim upward until near the surface when they would become alarmed and dart back and forth in their efforts to free themselves. The sport was very exciting. During 4 hours fishing 9 persons with 26 lines took 585 fish... And as our ship was out of fresh meat of every kind, all these fish were soon eaten by the officers and crew.[13]
^ abFadeev, N.S. 2005 Guide to biology and fisheries of fishes of the North Pacific Ocean. Vladivostok, TINRO-Center. 366 p.
^Zolotov, O.G. 2003 Atka mackerel. P. 44-46 in Condition of biological resources of the North-West Pacific. Siniakov, S.A., N.I. Naumenko, Yu.P. Diakov, O.G. Zolotov, and B.B. Vronsky (Eds.). Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, KamchatNIRO.
^Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino 1984 The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Vol. 1. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, Japan. 437 p. (text)
^Solomatov, S.F., D.V. Antonenko, A.A. Balanov and P.V. Kalchugin, 2009. New data on the occurrence of Atka Mackerel Pleurogrammus monopterygius (Hexagrammidae) in the Sea of Japan. Journal of Ichthyology 49(1):66-72.
^Allen, M.J. and G.B. Smith 1988 Atlas and zoogeography of common fishes in the Bering Sea and northeastern Pacific. NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 66, 151 p.
^Armstrong, R.H., 1996. Alaska's fish. A guide to selected species. Alaska Northwest Books. 94 p.
