256 



UNDERWATER GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE 



Fig. 145. Tmitog. 



Habits: This familiar fish is very common about rocks in shallow water near 

 shore. It is not easily frightened and will round rocks just ahead of the 

 swimmer, shortly returning to its accustomed place from which it was driven. 

 Several are usually seen together, but it is not a schooling species. It is a 

 mollusc- and crustacean-eater. Tautogs lay buoyant eggs in June and July in 

 fairly deep water. 



Similar S-pecies: The cunner (bergall), Tautogolahrns adspersiis, is the most 

 northern wrasse. Its habits are much like those of the tautog, and the two species 

 are often seen together. The head is more pointed than that of the tautog, and 

 the color is a mottled brown to olivaceous. It reaches 15 inches and ranges from 

 Labrador to the Chesapeake. 



CALIFORNIA SHEEPSHEAD (redfish): Piuielotuetopon fulcher—CoJor Plate 8 



Size: Up to 3 feet. 



Weight: Up to 25 pounds. 



Distrihution: Monterey Bay to the Gulf of California. 



Identification: This is a very bizarrely colored fish. The males have a black 

 head and black rear parts with an orange mid-bodv. The females are uniformlv 

 reddish to black and occasionally blotched. The scientific name means "beautiful, 

 fat forehead." 



Habits: This is an inshore fish of the rocks and kelp beds. Its habits are much 

 like those of the tautog, but it is a pugnacious fish, fighting both its own species 

 and others as well. 



HOGFiSH (capitan) I Lachnolaimus viaximns— Color Plate 8 



Size: Up to 2^/2 feet. 



Weight: Averages 4 pounds. Lip to 20 pounds. 



Distribution: West Indies to Florida. 



Identification: The silhouette is completely unique with steep profile, deep 

 body, and long first dorsal ravs. The color varies from a reddish blotched pattern 

 QColor Plate 10) to a rather plain "red-fronted" phase. 



Habits: This fish swims singly or in small groups in open spaces, such as 



