Common Name
Blackwing Searobin
Year Described
Jordan, 1886
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 moderate in size, containing bands of villiform teeth on the jaws, vomer, and palatines. Jaw reaches level of front of eye. No spines at nostrils. Preopercle and opercle usually bear strong spines. Preopercular spine reaches 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 squared off anteriorly and broadly rounded posteriorly. Pectorals when folded reach rear end 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 gray to pale brown with brown to reddish brown spots, scrawls, or small blotches giving the impression of the body being reticulated in the paler shade. Often displays a few incomplete bands comprised of larger oblique blotches under the dorsal fin. Head with a band between the eyes and onto the suborbital area. Flanks paler with spotting becoming more reddish. Belly pale. Dorsal fin pale brown with darker brown spots along spines and rays. Spiny dorsal lacks ocellus but can have an indistinct dark blotch. Pectoral fin tan anteriorly with a bright blue anterior margin. Rest of pectoral fin reddish to yellowish brown with whitish to yellowish crossbands and a dense pattern of dark brown spots. Tips of posterior rays white. Anal and pelvic fins pale blue with reddish and white mottled rays. Caudal fin with reddish bands and a blue rear edge.
Size
Maximum size to 23cm SL.
Habitat
Soft bottoms from 2-212m (usually <55m).
Range
Continental from North Carolina to the Yucatan Peninsula.
References
McEachran, J. D. & J. D. Fechhelm. 2005. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Volume 2: Scorpaeniformes to Tetraodontiformes. University of Texas Press, Austin. i-viii +1-1004.
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.