Genus: Calamus, Common Porgy, Porgies

CALAMUS

PORGIES

Body deep, compressed; head deep, upper profile steep; cheek below eye deep; rear nostril 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 canines at front, molar like at rear; preopercle border smooth; dorsal fin low, XIII, spines; anal fin short, III short spines, 10-11 soft rays; pectoral long, much longer than pelvic; cheeks and opercles scaly, but no scales on snout or between the eye and mouth.

This is a new world tropical to temperate genus, with 13 species; 10 species (4 endemics, 4 W Atlantic and 2 NW Atlantic) are found in our region.