Prionotus scitulus
Leopard 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 scitulus (Leopard 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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When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Characters
Conical head, moderately long and strongly rounded pectoral fins, snout relatively long and slightly concave in profile, rostral projection broadly rounded with crenate margin, villiform teeth in narrow rows in jaws, palatine, and vomer, gill rakers on first arch 9-13, measurements (% SL): head length 27%-30%, head depth 13%-16%, snout length 13%-15%, orbit diameter 4%-5%, interorbital width 2%-3%, upper jaw length 9%-11%, preopercular spine length 7%-9%, pectoral fin length 28%-37%, first free pectoral fin ray length 15%-19%, body depth 13%-15%, joined pectoral fin rays 12-14, first dorsal fin spines 10, second dorsal fin rays 12-14, anal fin rays 11-13, body covered with small ctenoid scales, nape scaled, chest naked anterior to base of lower free pectoral fin rays, lateral scale rows 103-130
Brown dorsally with reddish brown spots, white to light tan ventrally, first dorsal fin with two dark spots, pectoral fin dark with brightly colored spots
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from Virginia to Venezuela, including the entire Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Shallow bays to 91 m, most common from shoreline to 46 m
Biology
Polychaetes, shrimps, crabs, amphioxus, amphipods, and mysids
Maximum known size is about 250 mm SL
Spawning takes place between September and April or May, maturity reached at about 110 mm SL
Inhabits shallow-water bays.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-20. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Ginsburg 1950
Teague 1951
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Ross 1977
Ross 1978
Ross 1983
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Hoff 1992
Russell et al. 1992
Huidobro-Campos and Schmitter-Soto 1993
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Vega-Cendejas et al. 1997
Castro-Aguirre et al. 1999
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.
Ross, S. (1978) Trophic ontogeny of the leopard searobin, Prionotus scitulus (Pisces: Triglidae). Fish. Bull. 76(1):225-234.
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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