Species: Calamus bajonado, Jolthead Porgy

Calamus bajonado (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Jolthead Porgy

Body deep, compressed; head deep, long sloping snout; upper head profile not very steep (43-50 degrees to horizontal); rear nostril elongate to slit-like; large mouth with thick lips, heavy lower jaw; bone under front of eye overlaps rear bone of top jaw; jaw teeth in 2 rows, conical and slender at front,small molariform teeth on sides of jaws, 2 rows on both jaws, plus top jaw has an irregular series inside and at front, both jaws with canine teeth at front, 1-2 pairs on top jaw enlarged, but none curved outwards; preopercle border smooth; dorsal fin low, XIII,12 rays; anal fin short, III short spines, 10-11 soft rays; pectoral fin 15 (rarely14 or16) rays, fin relatively long, reaches past origin of anal fin; cheeks and opercles scaly, but no scales on snout or between the eye and mouth; lateral line scales 50-57.

Overall silvery; scales bluish; cheeks brassy; a blue line under eye; sides of snout with a silvery stripe; lips and throat purplish; corner of mouth and junction of gill covers under head orange; usually 2 silvery white stripes under eye and on cheek; juveniles: dark bars on body and tail.

Size: to 68 cm.

Habitat: vegetated sandy bottoms and coral bottoms.

Depth: 3-200 m.

The Northern US to Brazil.