Calamus nodosus
Knobbed Porgy
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Sparidae (Porgies)
Calamus
Calamus nodosus (Knobbed Porgy)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Small procumbent spine preceding dorsal fin; suborbital region lightly spotted on a contrasting dark background; large blue spot on axil of pectoral fin; dorsal profile of head nearly straight; portion below eye forming 57° to 65° angle with horizontal line from tip of snout to midbase of caudal fin; posterior naris long and slitlike; anterior jaw teeth conical and equal in size; teeth on sides of jaws molariform and in three rows in upper and lower jaws; irregular row of molariform teeth medial to rows in upper jaw; bony tubercle on lower anterior section of maxilla with free semicircular margin; tubercle on prefrontal bone well developed; gill rakers on first arch short and numbering 10 to 12; measurements (% SL): head length 30%–34%, snout length 19%–23%, eye diameter 7%–11%, suborbital depth 14%–18%, pectoral fin length 36%–38%, length of longest dorsal fin spine 12%–14%, body depth 47%–56%, caudal peduncle depth 9%–10%; pectoral fin rays 14 or 15; dorsal fin slightly notched with 12 or 13 spines and 11 to 13 rays; anal fin rays 10 or 11; lateral line scales 52 to 57 (usually 53 to 55)
Silvery with a rosy sheen; snout and cheek purplish gray with many bronze spots
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina to northern Yucatán, including the Gulf of Mexico
Throughout the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Hard bottoms; depth range 9-89 m
Biology
Maximum known size 540 mm TL
Found over hard bottoms. Sometimes taken in trawls and hook and line; good food fish (Ref. 26938).
Reproductive mode: protogyny; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Sex change occurs at 30-50 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-03-31. Resilience: Medium (K=0.17; tmax=17).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish.
References
Randall and Caldwell 1966
Bright and Cashman 1974
Sonnier et al. 1976
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Carpenter 2002b
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Horvath, M.L., C.B. Grimes and G.R. Huntsman (1990) Growth, mortality, reproduction and feeding of knobbed porgy, Calamus nodosus, along the southeastern United States coast. Bull. Mar. Sci. 46(3):677-687.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Comments On Calamus nodosus