Pigfish, Hogfish, Piggy perch, Redmouth grunt, Sailor's choice
Orthopristis chrysoptera, the pigfish, hogfish, piggy perch, redmouth grunt or sailor's choice, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grunt belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. This name derives from the grunting or chattering noise these fish make by rubbing their pharyngeal teeth together.
Orthopristis chrysoptera has an elliptical, oval shaped, compressed body with a thin-lipped small mouth which does not extend to the eye and is not coloured red inside. The jaws have a narrow band of thin teeth. The dorsal fin contains 12–13 spines and a similar number of soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 12–13 soft rays, the second spine is slightly thicker and longer than the third. The entire body is clothed in scales apart from the tip of the snout, lips and chin. The overall colour of the body is pale bluish-grey on the back and silvery below. Every scale on the body has a blue centre and a bronze spot on the margin, creating diagonal orange-brown stripes running up an along the flanks and back. The stripes below the lateral line are horizontal. There are bronze spots on the head and the fines are a yellowish- bronze with dusky margins. This species attains a maximum total length of 46 cm (18 in), although 30 cm (12 in) is more typical, and the maximum recorded weight is 900 g (32 oz).
Orthopristis chrysoptera is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from Massachusetts in the north south along the Atlantic coast of the United States around Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, including the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba. It is also found in Bermuda. It has been recorded off Siracusa in Sicily in 2020, probably afterbeing transported by ship.
Orthopristis chrysoptera is found at depths between 1 and 20 m (3 ft 3 in and 65 ft 7 in), where it can be found in estuaries and bays, sometimes entering canal although waters of very low salinity are avoided. Within these shallow waters they show a catholic habitat choice being found over soft substrates Seychelles as sand or silt, hard substrates including jetties, reefs and oil rigs, as well as shell banks. They may be found both in coastal waters and over the continental shelf.
The main spawning season is in the Spring and is extended, commencing in the late winter. It may occur offshore in open waters or in more sheltered situations inshore. The larger fish are the earliest spawners and all fish lose condition over the breeding season. Spawning takes place at dusk. The eggs and larvae are pelagic, eggs hatch after 48hours and the larvae become juveniles at 7 cm (2.8 in) in length. They have a longevity of 4 years but most only attain 3 years of age.
Pigfish are predatory fish, emerging from shelters to feed at night. Their main prey is benthic invertebrates and prey size increases with the size of the fish. The younger fish feed mainly on planktonic crustaceans while the larger fish feed on polychaetes, larger crustaceans, molluscs and smaller fishes. They have been recorded eating insect larvae in brackish waters. Pigfish are migratory and move offshore to avoid cold temperatures but when they return inshore in Spring they are in poor conditions suggesting that the offshore food supply is of low quality. They also undertake shorter distance. Daily migrations to and from feeding areas and shelters.
The pigfish likely gets its common name from the chattering noises they create when they are captured. The pigfish creates this grunting noise by rubbing their pharyngeal teeth together, as do the other grunts. When feeding, pigfish use their throat teeth to grind up shellfish and small bits of other food.
