Prionotus tribulus
Bighead Searobin
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Triglidae (Searobins)
Prionotus
Prionotus tribulus (Bighead 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
Large, broad head; moderately large and rounded pectoral fins; snout relatively long, nearly straight in profile, and depressed anteriorly; rostral projection broadly rounded with crenate margin; mouth subterminal and relatively large; nasal spine absent; preopercular spine well developed; villiform teeth in narrow bands in jaws, palatine, and vomer; gill rakers on first arch 8-16; head length 39%-43% SL, head depth 21%-23% SL, snout length 17%-19% SL, orbit diameter 7%-9% SL, interorbital width 7%-8% SL, upper jaw length 19%-20% SL, preopercular spine length 10%-13% SL, pectoral fin length 39%-47% SL, first free pectoral fin ray length 21%-28% SL, body depth 20%-23% SL; joined pectoral fin rays 12-14; first dorsal fin with 10 spines, second dorsal fin with 11 or 12 rays; anal fin with 10-12 rays; body covered with moderate-sized ctenoid scales; nape and chest fully scaled; lateral scale rows 69-84.
Brown to grayish brown with three short oblique dark bands on upper half of body; white to yellowish white on lower half of body; dorsal fin with dark blotch near margin between fourth and fifth spines; pectoral fin dusky to almost black, often with many irregular cross streaks; free pectoral fin rays banded.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from New York to Florida and throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Between shoreline and 183 m; most common between 9 and 64 m.
Juveniles enter estuaries.
Biology
Mysids, amphipods, shrimps, crabs, ray-finned fishes, and to a lesser extent polychaetes.
Maximum known size is about 350 mm SL.
Spawning takes place from fall to early spring; maturity reached at 85-140 mm TL at age one.
Very common in bays. Young occur in estuaries.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-20. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Ginsburg 1950
Teague 1951
Springer and Woodburn 1960
Hoese and Moore 1977, 1998
Castro-Aguirre and Márquez-Espinoza 1981
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.
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.
Kells, V. and K. Carpenter (2011) A field guide to coastal fishes from Maine to Texas. The Johnson Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.
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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