Species: Trinectes maculatus, Hogchoker, Hogchoker Sole

Trinectes maculatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Hogchoker, Hogchoker Sole

Body oval; eyes on right side, small but not tiny, >40% of snout length; head short and deep; front margin of head with short tentacles; snout rounded; mouth small, oblique, a little under snout; lips fleshy; rear edge of preopercle covered with skin, visible as a superficial groove; gill openings wide, united before pelvic fins; without opening connecting gill chambers on both sides; dorsal 50-60 rays, origin above lower eye; anal rays 36-44; usually no pectoral fin (rarely a single ray) on eye side; pelvic fin on eye side fused to anal; both pelvic fins 4 rays; lateral line from head to tail, straight, with perpendicular branches running across body; body covered with rough scales; eye side with scattered patches of cirri and dispersed, single cirri, those in lines on dark cross-lines; 90-98 lateral line scales.

Eye-side mid-brown, with ~ 7-8 thin dark cross-lines and dark blotches on outer parts; dorsal, anal and tail fins strongly marked with spots and blotches; blind side often partly or entirely with dark spots and blotches

Size: to 21.2 cm.

Habitat: muddy bottoms estuarine, also moves well up coastal streams.

Depth: 0-75 m.

Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico; Cuba and the Bahamas.