Anisotremus virginicus, the porkfish, also known as the Atlantic porkfishsweetlips, dogfish or paragrate grunt, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grunt belonging to the familyHaemulidae. It is native to the western Atlantic Ocean.
Description
Anisotremus virginicus has a deep, compressed body with a very high back and a short, blunt head. The mouth is positioned low on the head, it is horizontal with fleshy lips and the jaws are equipped with bands of teeth on both jaws. The outer band of teeth are conical in shape.[3] The flanks are marked with alternating yellow and silver stripes. There is a black bar running diagonally from over the eye to the upper lip and a second, vertical black bar runs from the front of the dorsal fin to the base of the pectoral fin. They have yellow fins, the caudal fin is deeply forked. The juveniles do not have the two black bars and have two black stripes which run horizontally along the middle of the flanks and a black blotch close to the caudal fin base and the head is vivid yellow.[4] The dorsal fin contains 12 spines and 16-18 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 9 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 40.6 cm (16.0 in), although 25 cm (9.8 in) is more typical, and the maximum published weight is 930 g (33 oz).[2]
Anisotremus virginicus inhabits reefs and areas of rock substrate in shallow inshore waters at depths of 2–20 m (6.6–65.6 ft).[4] The juveniles are found in beds of sea grass.[5] It is a nocturnal species which frequently moves around in large schools, occasionally swimming with white grunts. This species can produce a grunting sound, as can all the grunts, by grinding their teeth together. It feeds mainly on benthic invertebrates such as molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, polychaetes and annelids.[6] The juveniles act as cleaner fish, picking parasites from the skin and scales of other species of fish.[4][7]
Systematics
Anisotremus virginicus was first formally described in 1758 as Sparus virginicus by Linnaeus with the type locality given as South America.[8] When the American ichthyologistTheodore Nicholas Gill created the genus Anisotremus he named Sparus virginicus as its type species.[9]
Utilisation
Anisotremus virginicus is of minor importance to commercial fisheries and is caught using a variety of methods. They are considered a good sports fishing quarry. They do appear in the aquarium trade.[1][4] They have been bred in captivity.[10]
