Leopard Searobin, Prionotus scitulus
Leopard Searobin, Prionotus scitulus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Tampa, Florida, May 2018. Length: 13.5 cm (5.3 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.
Leopard Searobin, Prionotus scitulus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Placida, Florida, February 2017. Length: 14.0 cm (5.5 inches). Catch courtesy of Josh Olive, Charlotte Harbor, Florida. Photograph courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Fish identification reconfirmed by H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, with productive discussions with Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada noted.
Leopard Searobin, Prionotus scitulus. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Diego, California, December 2020. Length: 16 cm (6.3 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.
Leopard Searobin, Prionotus scitulus. Fish caught from within Boca Sound, Boca Raton, Florida, March 2017. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Leopard Searobin, Prionotus scitulus, is a member of the Searobin or Triglidae Family, that is also known as the Gulf of Mexico Barred Searobin and in Mexico as rubio leopardo. Globally, there are twenty-three species in the genus Prionotus, of which fifteen are found in Mexican waters, ten in the Atlantic and five in the Pacific Ocean.
The Leopard Searobin has an elongated slim body. They are brown dorsally and white ventrally and are covered with red-brown spots. Their anal fin has white margins with a translucent dark stripe mid-fin. The upper half of their caudal, dorsal, and pectoral fins are brown with red-brown spots. Their first dorsal fin has two ocelli, the first between the first and second spines and the second between the fourth and fifth spines. Their head is large, long, and conical with bony ridges and spines that vary with the maturity of the fish; these are prominent in juveniles and absent in adults. Their short sub-terminal mouth is equipped with villiform teeth arranged in narrow rows. They have a narrow gap between their eyes. Their anal fin has 11 to 13 rays; their dorsal fin has 10 spines and 12 to 14 rays; their pectoral fins are large, strongly rounded, and “wing-like” with 12 to 14 rays with the first three rays being enlarged and free-standing and reach the fourth anal fin ray. They have 9 to 13 gill rakers. Their body is covered with small scales with the exception of the throat that has no scales.
The Leopard Searobin is a demersal species that is found in shallow coastal bays over sandy and muddy bottoms at depths up to 91 m (300 feet). They reach a maximum length of 25 cm (10 inches). They consume crabs, polychaetes, and shrimp. Reproduction is oviparous with external fertilization. The Leopard Searobin is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Leopard Searobin is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.
The Leopard Searobin is very similar to and easily confused with the Barred Searobin, Prionotus martis (14 or 15 pectoral rays; 8 to 11 gill rakers; scales on throat – indeed the fish photographed above might be one) and several other searobins from the Atlantic, however most only have one spot on the dorsal fin. Also, the Leopard Searobin is not as deep bodied as the other similar searobins.
From a conservation perspective the Leopard Searobin is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are relatively small in stature and of limited interest to most.