Menticirrhus saxatilis
Northern Kingfish
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Sciaenidae (Drums and Croakers)
Menticirrhus
Menticirrhus saxatilis (Northern Kingfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
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Synonymy
None / Menticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus, 1758).
Characters
A medium-sized fish, elongate, rounded with a flat belly, triangular in cross section.
Mouth sm all, inferior; maxilla reaching below middle of eye. Teeth villi form, set in broad b ands on jaws,
outer-row teeth in upper jaw slightly enlarged, closely set. Chin with a single, short and rigid barbel, perfo-
rated by a pore at tip, and 2 pairs of lateral pores; snout with 8 pores (3 rostral and 5 marginal); rostral fold (on
lower margin of snout) deeply notched. Gill rakers short, knob-like, 3 to 12, those on lower limb of gill arch grad-
u ally disappearing with growth. Spinous dorsal fin with 10 spines (r arely 11); longest spine always extend-
ing well beyond base of seventh or eighth soft ray when depressed; posterior portion with 1 spine and 22
to 27 soft rays; anal fin with 1 spine and 7 to 9 (usu ally 8) soft rays; caudal fin S-shaped in adults. Gas bladder
vestigial in adults, but moderately developed in young (to 11 cm total length). Sagitta oval elongated and
thin; lapillus rudimentary. Scales moderately sm all, all ctenoid, those on breast not distinctly reduced in
size; soft dorsal fin naked except 1 row of sm all scales along its base. Colour: silvery grey, darkish on back and
whitish on belly; sides always with 5 or 6 conspicuous oblique bars, the second and third bars form a
V-shape marking under spinous dorsal fin; a dark longitudinal stripe present behind pectoral fin; spinous por-
tion of dorsal fin dark at tip with black margin; pectoral, pelvic and anal fins dusky and often with black tip. Inner
side of gill c over dusky.
Body shape: fusiform / normal.
Distribution
Gulf of Maine to Florida, nor thern
Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Bay of Campeche;
Mexico outside the area common from Cape
Hatteras to Cape Cod.
Habitat Associations
Found in sh allow coastal waters over s and to s andy mud bottoms; ra ther
common in the surf zone and in estuaries; juveniles may enter tidal rivers and creeks of low salinity (less than
1‰). Feeds on bottom-dwelling organisms, mainly worms and crustaceans. Caught mainly with bottom trawls,
pound nets, and seines; also by anglers. No spe-
cial fishery, but caught along with o ther
Menticirrhus species; important fishing grounds
are located to the north of the area.
Biology
Maximum 40 cm; common to 30 cm.
Adults occur usually in shallow coastal waters over sand to sandy mud bottoms. Common in the surf zone and in estuaries. Juveniles may enter tidal rivers and creeks of low salinity. Feed mainly on worms and crustaceans. An excellent food fish.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2020-01-23. Resilience: High (K=0.5).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Marketed
mostly fresh, an excellent foodfish.
References
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.
Welsh, W.W. and C.M. Breder Jr. (1923) Contributions to life histories of Sciaenidae of the Eastern United States Coast. Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., 39:141-201.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Ralph, D.E. (1982) Biological and fisheries data on northern kingfish, Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch and Schneider). US Dept. Comm. NOAA Technical Series Report No. 27, 55 p.
Comments On Menticirrhus saxatilis