PALOMETA – Trachinotus goodei
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: gray to blue-green on top of head and along the back; bright silvery sides; yellow on breast; elongated dorsal and anal fins, dusky or black with bluish edges; deep body, with four narrow bars high on the sides, and traces of a fifth nearer the tail; no scutes. Similar […]
CREVALLE JACK – Caranx hippos
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: color bluish-green to greenish-gold back and silvery or yellowish belly; soft dorsal and anal fins almost identical in size; prominent black spot on operculum (gill cover); black spot at the base of each pectoral fin; no scales on throat. Similar fish: other Caranx. Where found: common to both INSHORE […]
BLUE RUNNER – Caranx crysos
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: color light olive to bluish green above, silvery gray to golden below; frequently black spot on operculum; readily distinguished from crevalle jack by lack of a dark blotch on the pectoral fin; tail tipsblackish. Similar fish: bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix; other Caranx. Where found: juveniles found OFFSHORE; adults NEARSHORE in […]
LESSER AMBERJACK – Seriola fasciata
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: olive green or brownish back and silver sides; dark band (variably present) extends backward and upward from eye; juveniles have split or wavy bars on sides; proportionately larger eye and deeper body than greater amberjack. Similar fish: other Seriola. Where found: NEARSHORE and OFFSHORE, apparently living deeper than other […]
GREATER AMBERJACK – Seriola dumerili
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: dark stripe (variably present) extends from nose to in front of dorsal fin and “lights up” when fish is in feeding mode; no scutes; soft dorsal base less than twice the length of the anal fin base. Similar fish: other Seriola. Where found: OFFSHORE species associated with rocky reefs, […]
BANDED RUDDERFISH – Seriola zonata
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: fish less than 11 inches long have dark band from eye to first dorsal fin and six prominent bars on body; larger fish are bluish, greenish, or brown; soft dorsal base about twice the length of the anal fin; tail-lobe white tipped. Similar fish: other Seriola. Where found: NEARSHORE […]
ALMACO JACK – Seriola rivoliana
Family Carangidae, JACKS AND POMPANOS Description: deep-bodied amberjack; sometimes darker in coloration; front of soft dorsal and of anal fins high and elongated; body more flattened than banded rudderfish or greater amberjack; no scutes. Similar fish: other Seriola. Where found: wide-ranging in OFFSHORE waters, not a common catch; young are associated with Sargassum. Size: usually […]
COBIA (ling) – Rachycentron canadum
Family Rachycentridae, COBIA Description: long, slim fish with broad depressed head; lower jaw projects past upper jaw; dark lateral stripe extends through eye to tail; first dorsal fin comprised of 7 to 9 free spines; when young, has conspicuous alternating black and white horizontal stripes. Similar fish: remora, Eceneis naucrates. Where found: both INSHORE and […]
BLUEFISH – Pomatomus saltatrix
Family Pomatomidae, BLUEFISHES Description: color blue or greenish blue on back, sides silvery; mouth large; teeth prominent, sharp, and compressed; dorsal and anal fins nearly the same size; scales small; lateral line almost straight. Similar fish: blue runner, C. crysos. Where found: young usually INSHORE spring and summer, moving OFFSHORE to join adults fall and […]
SAND PERCH – Diplectrum formosum
Family Serranidae, SEA BASSES AND GROUPER Description: body and dorsal fins with many dark brown bars and alternating orange and blue horizontal lines; head with many blue lines; preopercular spines very well developed; grouped in 2 radiating clusters with a deep notch between them; upper lobe of caudal fin prolonged in adults. Size: to 30 […]