320 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
said that during the late fall tautogs are commonly caught off the large stone breakwater at Cape 
Charles city, and that fish of 8 or 9 pounds are sometimes taken. One fish about 13 inches in 
length was taken from a pound net at Chesapeake Beach, Md., on April 29, 1922, establishing the 
most northerly record for the bay. 
The small annual catch is utilized in the Chesapeake markets; principally in Norfolk and 
Baltimore. The fishermen include this species among the mixed or miscellaneous fish, as it is rarely 
taken in sufficient numbers at one time to pack in separate boxes. During 1921 and 1922 the retail 
price ranged from 10 to 15 cents a pound. The tautog is a food fish of good flavor and is much 
esteemed along the North Atlantic coast, where it assumes considerable importance. 
In Chesapeake Bay the tautog is usually called “salt-water chub” or “chub”; at Oxford, Md., 
fishermen call it “black porgy”; and at Solomons, where it is rare, it is called “blackfish.” The 
last name is in common use at New York. 
The maximum weight reported for the tautog is 22J^ pounds. This fish was caught off New 
York in 1876 and was 36H inches long. Fishermen reported individuals from Cape Charles city 
weighing 8 or 9 pounds. The largest from Chesapeake Bay seen during the present investigation 
weighed 4 pounds. Larger ones evidently are comparatively rare in the vicinity. The weight 
of adult fish varies widely, some being much deeper, and therefore heavier, than others. One 
Chesapeake specimen, 13 inches long, weighed 1 pound and 7 ounces, while a fish 14 inches long 
weighed only 13^ ounces. 
Habitat . — Bay of Fundy to South Carolina; not taken in commercial numbers south of Chesa- 
peake Bay. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: Southern part of the bay, Cape Charles city, 
Old Point Comfort, and Norfolk. ( b ) Specimens in collection: Chesapeake Beach and Solomons, 
Md.; Tangier Island, Lewisetta, Lower York River, Cape Charles, Old Point Comfort, Buckroe 
Beach, and Ocean View, Va. Rather rare north of Cape Charles city and the mouth of the York 
River, and most common in the vicinity of Cape Charles. 
137. Genus TAUTOGOLABRUS Gunther. Cunners 
This genus differs from Tautoga principally in the more elongate body; lower head, with a more 
gently convex upper profile; serrate preopercular margin; larger scales, about 40 in a lateral series; 
and in having the cheeks and opercles more nearly fully scaled. This genus, like Tautoga, consists 
of a single species. 
176. Tautogolabrus adspersus (Walbaum). Cunner. 
Labrus adspersus Walbaum, Artedi Piseium, 1792, p. 254; New York. 
Tautogolabrus adspersus Lugger, 1877, p. 71; Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1577, PI. CCXXXVI, fig. 595; Bigelow and 
Welsh, 1925, p. 281, fig. 131. 
Head 3.45; depth 3.45; D. XVIII, 9; A. Ill, 8 ; scales 41. Body moderately deep, compressed; 
caudal peduncle deep, its depth about equal to postorbital part of head; head rather low, moderately 
long; snout pointed, 3.5 in head; eye 2.8; interorbital 4.7; mouth moderate, terminal; lips thin; 
maxillary scarcely reaching anterior margin of eye, 3.5 in head; teeth in bands on anterior part of 
jaws, becoming uniserial laterally, the outer ones anteriorly enlarged, caninelike; gill membranes 
united but free from the isthmus; preopercular margin serrate; lateral line complete and con- 
tinuous, running high anteriorly but becoming median on caudal peduncle; scales moderate, 
thin, with smooth membranous edges, reduced on chest, present on cheeks and opercles; dorsal 
fin long, continuous, the spines stiff, pungent, not quite as high as the soft rays, caudal fin 
round; anal fin with three rather strong spines, the soft part similar to that of dorsal; ventral fins 
moderate, inserted slightly behind base of pectorals; pectoral fins moderately broad, round, their 
length 1.45 in head. 
Color in alcohol uniform brownish yellow; dorsal fin with a black spot on base of anterior 
soft rays. Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 282) make the following observation concerning the color 
of this fish: “To describe the color of the cunner is to list all the colors of the bottoms on which it 
lives, it being one of the most variable of fishes.” 
