 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
|
||||||||
Hexagrammos decagrammus |
THE RACE ROCKS TAXONOMY | |
||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Kelp Greenling is one of the few fish that has 5 lateral lines on each side. Females are profusely covered with orange-reddish spots and are grey in colour. Males are brown or gray in colour with a few blue spots on the front part of their body. Each of these spots is surrounded by a ring of reddish brown.
The Kelp Greenling is a rocky reef fish, found on the bottom of the ocean, often in dense macroalgae.They are abundant all along the front cliff off the docks at Race Rocks. Between Alaska and Central California, most of them live from lower intertidal waters to about 50 feet, with females tending to live in shallower water than males. The typical Kelp Greenling is about ten inches long, but the largest in record was 21 inches. Females grow faster than males. Some females mature at 4 years. The greenling has been aged to 12 years, but few probably live longer. Females are oviparous and these fish are fall spawners with nesting noted in October- November off Washington and British Columbia. Females migrate down to the males, lay their blue eggs in nests which the males guard until they hatch. Feeding occurs during the day and they are inactive at night, with their preferred menu being : shrimps, crabs, worms, octopi, brittlestars, snails and small fish. References: Probably more than you want to know about the fishes of the Pacific Coast, Milton Love, Really Big Press, California, 1996 Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest, Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell, Harbour publishing, BC, 1986 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
