Wreckfish

{{Short description|Genus of ray-finned fish}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Polyprion americanus.png

| image_caption = Atlantic wreckfish, Polyprion americanus

| parent_authority = Bleeker, 1874{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue =2 | pages = 001–230}}

| taxon = Polyprion

| authority = Oken, 1817

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = see text

}}

The wreckfish are a small group of ray-finned fish in the genus Polyprion, belonging to the monotypic family Polyprionidae in the order Acropomatiformes.

They are deep-water marine fish and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (thus their common name).{{cite web | url = https://britishseafishing.co.uk/wreckfish/ | title = Wreckfish | access-date = 2 April 2020 | publisher = British Sea Fishing}} Their scientific name is from Greek poly meaning "many" and prion meaning "saw", a reference to their prominent spiny fins.{{FishBase|Polyprion|americanus|month=December|year=2019}}

Atlantic wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) are a long-lived commercial species in the Mediterranean, the south-eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.{{cite journal|last1=Sedberry |first1=George R. |display-authors=etal |year=1999 |title=Wreckfish Polyprion americanus in the North Atlantic: fisheries, biology, and management of a widely distributed and long-lived fish |journal=American Fisheries Society Symposium |volume=23 |pages=27–50 |url=http://homepages.gac.edu/~jcarlin/downloads/LifeSlowLane.pdf |access-date=5 April 2015}}