Genus: Pagrus, Red Porgy, Porgies

PAGRUS

PORGIES

Body oblong, compressed; head deep, upper profile rounded; eye not high on head, distance to mouth ~equal to eye diameter; rear nostril oblong, larger than front nostril; mouth small, opens at front; bone under front of eye overlaps rear bone of top jaw; jaw teeth in 2 rows, slender, close-set canines at front, molars at rear; preopercle border smooth; dorsal fin low, XII spines; anal fin short, III short spines, 8 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 tropical to temperate genus, with 6 species found in the Indo-west Pacific, both sides of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; 1 trans-Atlantic species occurs in our region.