Serraniculus pumilio
Pygmy Sea Bass
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Serranidae (Sea Basses and Groupers)
Serraniculus
Serraniculus pumilio (Pygmy Sea Bass)
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
Spindle shaped; anterior and posterior nares close set with large flap extending from posterior margin of anterior naris; maxilla extends to near center of eye; jaw teeth villiform in broad bands with outer row enlarged in both jaws and inner row enlarged in lower jaw; vomer and palatine with villiform teeth in bands; preoperculum serrated along posterior margin and smooth along ventral margin; 6 branchiostegal rays; 9-13 short gill rakers on first arch; head length 31%-36% SL, snout length 7%-8% SL, eye diameter 7%-9% SL, body depth 24%-28% SL; pectoral fins with 14 or 15 rays; dorsal fin slightly notched with 10 spines and 10 or 11 rays; anal fin with 6 or 7 rays; caudal fin posterior margin slightly convex; ctenoid scales extending onto head to near posterior margin of orbit; lateral line with 40-46 pored scales following dorsal contour of body
Mottled with buff and dark brown dorsally, abruptly white ventrally; poorly defined dark bars below spinous section of dorsal fin, near end of rayed section of dorsal fin, and at base of caudal peduncle; narrow dark bar between eyes; row of brown dots along lateral line
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina to Venezuela, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Greater Antilles
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Near shore to 165 m; in Gulf of Mexico most abundant between 19 and 70 m over sandy to shelly bottoms
Sandy to shelly bottoms
Biology
Crabs and shrimps
Maximum known size is 63 mm SL
Spawning in Gulf of Mexico takes place in August and September; maturity reached at about 25 mm SL
Occurs mainly on seagrass beds. Found from shore to 45 m depth. Synchronously hermaphroditic.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-23. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Ginsburg 1952a
Reid 1954
Springer and Woodburn 1960
Hastings 1973
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Ogren and Brusher 1977
Darcy and Gutherz 1984
Robins and Ray 1986
Bullock and Smith 1991
Boschung 1992
Cervigón 1991
Heemstra 2002c
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.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
Comments On Serraniculus pumilio