Prionotus paralatus
Mexican Searobin
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Triglidae (Searobins)
Prionotus
Prionotus paralatus (Mexican Searobin)
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
Long preopercular spine; short, emarginate pectoral fins; moderately long snout, depressed anteriorly, and concave in profile; subterminal and relatively small mouth; broadly rounded rostral projection with crenate margin; well-developed rostral, infraorbital, and supplemental preopercular spines; absent nasal spine; villiform teeth in bands on jaws, vomer, and palatine; 1 to 3 tubercles on upper limb and 11 to 16 tubercles and gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch; head length 35%–41% SL, head depth 19%–23% SL, snout length 16%–18% SL, orbit diameter 7%–9% SL, interorbital width 3%–4% SL, upper jaw length 11%–13% SL, preopercular spine length 20%–27% SL, longest joined upper pectoral fin ray length 32%–40% SL, longest joined lower pectoral fin ray 38%–44% SL, uppermost free pectoral fin ray length 24%–29% SL, body depth 17%–20% SL; 12 or 13 joined pectoral fin rays; 9 or 10 spines in first dorsal fin, 11 to 13 rays in second dorsal fin; 10 or 11 anal fin rays; body covered with small ctenoid scales except on chest anterior to outermost pelvic fin rays
Light grayish brown on dorsal and upper lateral surfaces, and light tan to whitish on lower lateral and ventral surfaces; pectoral fin uniformly black or with black and white crossbands on upper part; first dorsal fin with dark oval-shaped spot between fourth and fifth spines
Distribution
Western Atlantic in the Gulf of Mexico from Panama City, FL, to the Gulf of Campeche
Northern Gulf of Mexico between 60 and 120 m
Habitat Associations
Between 9 and 274 m depth
Biology
Polychaetes, bivalve mollusks, shrimps, and crabs
Maximum known size is about 180 mm SL
Maturity reached at 100 to 120 mm TL at age one
Occurs in offshore waters from 36-180 m depth.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-08-11. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Specimens between Gulfport, MS, and Panama City, FL, are apparently hybrids of P. paralatus and P. alatus
References
Ginsburg 1950
Miller and Kent 1971
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Hoff 1992
McClure and McEachran 1992
Russell et al. 1992
Huidobro-Campos and Schmitter-Soto 1993
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Vega-Cendejas et al. 1997
Richards and Miller 2002a
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.
Richards, W.J. (1996) Triglidae: searobins. p. 797-805. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 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.
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