Kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus) is a saltwater species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over rocky, sand, seagrass.
Scientific name: Hexagrammos decagrammus · Water: Saltwater
Size: up to 61 cm
Weight: up to 2.1 kg
The kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus) is a greenling of the family Hexagrammidae, an eastern Pacific species with 21 or 22 spines in its first dorsal fin, 24 soft rays in its second dorsal and yellowish orange fins. Its range extends from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to La Jolla in southern California, and it occurs in rocky nearshore areas, commonly on kelp beds and over sand bottoms, feeding on crustaceans, polychaete worms, brittle stars, mollusks and small fishes. It is frequently caught by hook and line from shore or from a skiff, and is also speared by divers; it is easily taken around rocky cliffs and kelp beds and responds to a wide variety of natural and artificial baits, which makes it a dependable inshore target from California north through Oregon, Washington and Alaska. It reaches a maximum published total length of 61 cm and 2.1 kg.
The sexes are marked differently. Males are grey to brownish olive with irregular blue spots over the front half to two-thirds of the body, each ringed by small rusty spots, while females are grey to brownish but speckled all over with rust or golden spots. In both, the inside of the mouth is yellowish and there is frequently an eye-like ocellus at the rear of the second dorsal fin. Each flank carries five lateral lines, and there are fleshy cirrhi above the eye and another midway between the eye and the dorsal origin; the anal fin has a single spine and 23 or 24 soft rays. The young are food for large predators including steelhead and salmon. Its mating ritual is unusual: males attempt to inseminate the eggs in other males' nests, a behaviour explained by condition-dependent mating decisions.
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