Wreckfish

The wreckfish are a family, Polyprionidae, of perciform fish.

Contents

• The atlantic wreckfish cherne
• Species
• References

They are deep-water marine fish and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (thus their common name). Their scientific name is from Greek poly meaning "many" and prion meaning "saw", a references to their prominent spiny fins. They stay together in schools of at least five.

Wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) are a long-lived commercial species in the Mediterranean, the south-eastern Pacific and the Atlantic ocean.

The fish is commonly known as chernia in Spanish-speaking Latin America, and as cherne in Portugal.