SPOTTAIL PINFISH – Diplodus holbrooki
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: dark saddle on caudal peduncle sometimes forms a complete ring around peduncle in adults; eight faint bars on body, alternately long and short; more prominent in young; edge of opercular membrane blackish; pelvic and anal fins dusky brown, dorsal fin less dark. Size: to 46 cm (18 in.). Where Found: inshore […]
PINFISH – Lagodon rhomboides
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: small mouth with incisor-like teeth; distinctive black spot behind the gill cover; body bluish-silver with blue and orangeyellow horizontal stripes, yellow fins. Where found: seagrass beds, bridges, piers, marker pilings, and around natural and artificial reefs; spawn offshore. Size: usually less than 8 in. Remarks: popular live bait, notorious bait stealers. […]
LITTLEHEAD PORGY – Calamus proridens
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: similar to the knobbed porgy, but snout and cheek bluish gray, with many wavy, dark blue lines; areas between lines sometimes brassy; each scale on upper body has a dark bluish line through the center; these lines unite to form a narrow line along each scale row. Size: to 46 cm […]
GRASS PORGY – Calamus arctifrons
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: pale tan to silvery; dark olive above; dark bar across nape extends through eye to corner of mouth; dark blotches on body, in about 5 vertical and 4 horizontal series, suggesting interrupted bars and stripes; blotch near front of lateral line most prominent; dark V at base of caudal fin; lobes […]
KNOBBED PORGY – Calamus nodosus
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: body deep; front profile very steep; nape projects strongly in large adults; body generally silvery, with a rosy cast; cheek and snout dark purplish gray, with many bronze spots; large blue spot at axil of pectoral fin. Size: to 46 cm (18 in.). Where found: hardbottom, reefs, ledges Mark MayoI research […]
JOLTHEAD PORGY – Calamus bajonado
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: generally silvery to brassy, with a bluish cast; front of head brown, with blue line along lower rim of eye; a whitish stripe below eye, and another between eye and mouth; corner of mouth orange. Size: to 60 cm (2 ft.) and 3.6 kg (8 lbs.). Where Found: coastal waters to […]
RED PORGY – Pagrus pagrus
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: the only American porgy with a rear nostril that is round (not slit-like); head and body silvery red, with many tiny blue spots. Size: to 91 cm (3 ft.). Where found: deeper part of continental shelf, but young occur in water as shallow as 18 m (60 ft.). Mark MayoI research […]
SHEEPSHEAD – Archosargus probatocephalus
Family Sparidae, PORGIES Description: basic silvery color, with 5 or 6 distinct vertical black bars on sides, not always the same on both sides; prominent teeth, including incisors, molars, and rounded grinders; no barbels on lower jaw; strong and sharp spines on dorsal and anal fins. Similar fish: black drum, Pogonias cromis; Atlantic spadefish, Chaetodipterus […]
GRAY TRIGGERFISH – Balistes capriscus
Family Balistidae, LEATHERJACKETS Description: entirely olive-gray; dorsal and anal fins marbled; caudal fin lobes elongate in large adults; one or more enlarged scales behind gill opening; 26 to 29 dorsal fin rays; 23 to 26 anal fin rays. Young: large darker saddles on back (these saddles sometimes persit in adults); blue spots and short blue […]
HOGFISH – Lachnolaimus maximus
Family Labridae, WRASSES Description: body deep, strongly compressed; color varies, but never bicolored; usually reddish, sometimes bright brick red; soft dorsal fin with a large dark spot at base; entire top of head nape purplish brown in large males; this patch of color continuous with blackish area that extends along entire base of dorsal fin; […]