Common Name
Northern Searobin
Year Described
Linnaeus, 1771
Identification
Dorsal Fin: X, 12
Anal Fin: 10
Pectoral Fin: 13-14
Body elongate and slightly compressed. Head is large, bony, and heavily sculptured with pronounced ridges and spines. Head relatively elongated. Duck-billed snout is long. Mouth is subterminal and small in size, containing bands of villiform teeth on the jaws, vomer, and palatines. Jaw reaches well short of eye. No spines at nostrils. Preopercle and opercle usually bear strong spines. Preopercular spine reaches just beyond opercle. Large, fan-like pectoral fins with strongly branched rays, with the lower three rays free, thickened, and separate from the fin membrane. Pectoral fin viewed from above almost perfectly semicircular (broadly rounded). Pectorals when folded reach anterior third of anal fin base. Two dorsal fins: one spiny and one soft rays. Anal fin opposite soft dorsal fin. Caudal fin is truncate or slightly rounded. Pelvic fin underneath pectoral fin on belly. Body covered in small ctenoid scales with the exception of the naked ventral surface. Nape scaled. Opercular membrane above spine partially scaled. Lateral line is continuous.
Color
Body and head brown with faint blotches and irregular mottling. There are usually three oblique dark brown bands, one under the spiny dorsal and two under the soft dorsal fin. A series of white blotches adjacent to dark bands. Belly abruptly white. Spiny dorsal fin pale brown with a small black spot between spines 4-5 and a few white stripes. Soft dorsal fin with alternating white and brown stripes made of of spots along the rays. Pectoral fin brown with golden brown spots and two strong black concentric bands. Anal fin pale blue with a black median band and white margin. Pelvic fin pale blue. Caudal fin brown with a white streak on upper margin and basal white blotches.
Size
Maximum size to 38cm SL.
Habitat
Soft bottoms from 9-170m (usually 18-55m).
Range
Nova Scotia to Florida. Continental coasts only.
References
Richards, W. J. & G. C. Miller. 2003. Triglidae (pp. 1266-1277). In: Carpenter, K. E. (ed.) 2003. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes and American Society of Ichthyologist and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome. v. 2: i-vii + 602-1373.