''Menticirrhus saxatilis'', the northern kingfish or northern kingcroaker, is a species of marine fish in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the Order (biology), order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family co ...

(commonly known as the "drum" or "croaker" family). It lives in the shallow coastal waters of the western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

Description

The northern kingfish can grow to about , but a more usual adult length is .''Menticirrhus saxatilis'' (Bloch & Schneider, 1801): Northern kingfish
FishBase. Retrieved 2012-03-07. It is a slender fish, being most deep bodied in the pectoral region. As in most bottom-feeding fish, its upper jaw projects further than the lower and the snout overhangs the mouth. There is a small

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

on its fleshy lower lip. The dorsal fin is divided into two parts. The front part is triangular, short but tall with 10 spines, the third of which is the longest and is extended into a short filament. The other part of the dorsal fin is long and slightly tapered and has one spine and 24 to 27 soft rays. The pointed pectoral fins are quite large and the anal fin has 1 spine and 8 soft rays. The tailfin has a characteristic slightly concave upper lobe and a rounded lower lobe. The colour is dark grey with a metallic sheen and paler grey below. There are several diagonal bars of darker colour on the upper body. These mostly run towards the rear of the body but one or two bars near the head slope the other way. The fins are a dark colour, tipped with white. Unlike most members of its family, the northern kingfish has no air bladder, so the fish does not make the "croaking" sound that is characteristic of the family., ''Fishery Bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service'', U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved from Gulf of Maine Research Institute website, 2012-03-07.

Distribution and habitat

The northern kingfish is a subtropical,

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer o ...

fish found in shallow waters in the western Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

southwards through the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan peninsular of Mexico. It is found in

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

in places where the seabed is sand or mud, in the surf zone and in estuaries. It can tolerate low

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

levels and the juveniles are often found in tidal rivers and creeks. It is occasionally seen in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

and in this more northerly part of its range it is migratory, disappearing from October to May.

Biology

The northern kingfish feeds on

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

invertebrates. The diet consists mainly of small

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s such as

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

s and

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s but

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

worms,

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s, small fish and

mysid Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in thi ...

s are also eaten and it also scavenges on carrion. In the eastern United States,

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

takes place from April to August. The spherical eggs contain oil globules. They are

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

and disperse with the currents. The developing larvae are somewhat tadpole-like with large heads. By the time the fry reach a length of the soft dorsal and anal rays have already appeared and when they are long, the spiny rays have also developed. By this stage, their bodies are covered by

melanophores Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods. Mammals and birds, in contrast ...

. They reach a length of about by their first winter and by their second.

Uses

The northern kingfish is not fished commercially but from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

southwards it provides good sport to surf anglers and those in boats close to the shore. The bait used can be pieces of squid, clams or bloodworms. The fish has tasty white meat.Northern Kingfish: A Profile
New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife. Retrieved 20121-03-20.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2765403 saxatilis Fish described in 1801