Species: Calamus proridens, Littlehead Porgy

Calamus proridens Jordan & Gilbert, 1884

Littlehead Porgy

Body oblong, compressed and very deep at front; head deep and very steep ( upper profile 43-69 degrees); snout blunt and very steep in adults; nape strongly convex, humped in adults; rear nostril slit-like; mouth small, not reaching under front of eye; bone under front of eye overlaps rear bone of top jaw; canines at front of both jaws, 1-2 pairs enlarge on top jaw, with the 4th from the center curved outwards (in adults), molariform teeth on the sides of the jaws (3 rows above, 2 below); preopercle border smooth; dorsal fin low, XII-XIII,(spines relatively long, longest usually 13.7-16.3% SL, 12 (11-12); anal fin short, III short spines, 10 (10-11) soft rays; pectoral fin 14 (rarely 13 or 15) rays, reaches to or past origin of anal fin; cheeks and opercles scaly, but no scales on snout or between the eye and mouth; lateral line scales 52-57.

Iridescent silvery, with a dark bluish spot on each scale of back and upper sides; a diffuse blue horizontally elongate blotch at the top corner of the operculum; a blue stripe under eye; large patch of alternating blue and yellow stripes under eye; lips and corner of mouth yellow.

Size: to 46 cm.

Habitat: on reefs and adjacent sand areas.

Depth: 3-85 m.

N Carolina to the E Caribbean.