Species: Archosargus probatocephalus, Sheepshead bream, the Sheepshead
Archosargus probatocephalus (Walbaum, 1792)
Sheepshead
Body oval, somewhat compressed, back humped; head small, blunt, with asymetrical convex, profiles; eye moderate; mouth small, opens at front; bone under front of eye overlaps rear bone of top jaw; front teeth large, with wide, flattened, unnotched tips, 3 rows of molars on sides of top jaws; margin of preopercle smooth; dorsal fin long & low, XII, front spine (sometimes skin covered) projects forwards, 11 rays; anal short, III, 9-10, second spine very strong; pectoral long, much longer than pelvic, reaching level of second anal spine; caudal fin forked; lateral-line scales 48; cheeks and opercles scaly, but no scales on snout or between the eye and mouth.
Grey; 5-6 (rarely 4 or 7) dark vertical bars on body and one on nape, slightly narrower than interspaces; fins pale (dark in juvenile).
Size: grows to at least 92 cm.
Habitat: inshore, rocky and other hard bottoms, entering brackish water
Depth: 0-15 m.
Nova Scotia to the southern Caribbean. Its sister in Brazil is A. aries.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Brackish
- Freshwater
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Reef and soft bottom
- Rocks
- Freshwater
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Estuary
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Omnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Sessile molluscs
- Data
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Benthic microalgae
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic worms
- Sponges/seasquirts/bryozoa
- Bony fishes
- Sessile crustacea
- Egg Type
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- Pelagic larva
- Data
- Pelagic
- Global Endemism
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- Transatlantic (East+West Atlantic)
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- All species.
- Regional Endemism
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- Extends North of GC
- Continent
- Extends South of GC
- Also in Brazil
- GC non-endemic
- All species..
- Continent only
- Extends N + S of GC
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 92
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 15
