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UNDERWATER GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE 



Sea Robins: Suborder Craniomi 



This suborder is clearly a derivative of the mail-checked fishes. The suborbital 

 bony stay is even better developed in sea robins than in mail-checked fishes, but 

 sea robins add another characteristic that sets them apart. The pectoral fin is 

 divided into an upper winglike part and a lower part of several independently 

 movable rays. With these pectorals and the pelvics, these fishes can perform 

 an amazing variety of functions. The large pectorals serve as oars (or improbably 

 as wings for short flights out of water in the most advanced species). The finger- 

 like pectorals can turn stones, prod about for food, and act altogether like hands. 

 The pelvics (and lower pectorals as well) serve as legs on which the fish walks 

 slowly and stealthily when it is on the bottom. Sea robins are principally 

 crustacean- and invertebrate-eaters and are found in most temperate and tropical 

 seas. The colors are often quite beautiful, with red predominating in the tropics. 



SEA ROBINS: Family Triglidae 



The pectoral is large but not developed into a large wing in these fishes. The 

 tropical species are usually found in fairly deep water. Some of these are very 

 bizarre, with long chin barbels and pointed snouts. 



CAROLINA SEA ROBIN: Pfionotiis catolmus 



Size: Averages 1 foot. Up to IV2 feet. 



Weight: Up to 2 pounds. 



Distribution: Bay of Fundy to the Carolinas. 



Identification: This species is not stronglv marked except for a few blotches. 

 The chin is black. 



Habits: This is mainly a bottom fish which mav be found creeping about 

 over sand. It moves to deep water in the cold months. It would be of great 

 scientific interest to photograph this fish in its natural habitat and to make 

 careful observations of the use of the fins particularlv. This fish lays floating, 

 nonadhesive eggs in the summer. 



Similar Species: There are many species in temperate and tropical waters. Most 

 of the latter are of deep-water habitat. The southern sea robin, Prionotus trihuhis, 

 is a very common Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic shallow-water form. It has 

 three or four dark, blotchy, vertical bars on a yellow-tan ground color. 



