''Haemulon flavolineatum'', the French grunt, banana grunt, gold laced grunt, open-mouthed grunt, redmouth grunt, or yellow grunt, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

, a grunt belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Haemulidae Haemulidae is a family of fishes in the order Perciformes known commonly as grunts. It is made up of the two subfamilies Haemulinae (grunters) and Plectorhynchinae (sweetlips), which in turn contain about 133 species in 19 genera. These fish ar ...

. It is native to the western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Description

''H. flavolineatum'' has an almond-shaped body, which is compressed and ends in a blunt snout. The small to medium-sized mouth has thick lips and has narrow bands of teeth on each jaw, the outer line of teeth being conical in shape, and no teeth on the roof of the mouth. It has a continuous

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

with a small to medium-sized notch. The dorsal fin contains 12 spines and 14-15 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 8 soft rays. The background colour of this fish is whitish to bluish or yellowish, with three vivid yellow to orange horizontal stripes above the lateral line and a number of similarly coloured oblique stripes below it. There are yellow spots on the lower surface of the head and the inside of the mouth is red. It has yellow fins and a white abdomen. This species attains a maximum total length of , although is more typical.

Distribution

''H. flavolineatum'' is found in the western Atlantic Ocean from

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

in the north, along the coast of the United States to the Bahamas, into the southern

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

including the Florida Keys, from

Tuxpan Tuxpan (or Túxpam, fully Túxpam de Rodríguez Cano) is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 78,523 and of the municipality was 134,394 inhabitants, according to the INEGI census ...

in Mexico eastwards along the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula to northwestern Cuba, and south into the Caribbean Sea as far as

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Habitat and biology

''H. flavolineatum'' is found at depths between , where it forms large aggregations involving thousands of individuals, over rocky areas and coral reefs. They may stay under ledges or near elkhorn coral. The juveniles are frequently found in large numbers sheltering in

sea grass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae an ...

beds in protected bays, lagoons, and other coastal waters. They are mainly nocturnal and emerge at night to feed on benthic invertebrates such as

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

, and

polychaetes Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made ...

, foraging over sand flats and among sea-grass beds. They have pelagic eggs and larvae, but little is known about their reproductive habits. The larvae remain so for 2 weeks before settling among the sea grass.

Parasites

''H. flavolineatum'' has many known parasites, among them is '' Gnathia marleyi'', a small crustacean named in honour of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

singer

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

Systematics

''H. flavolineatum'' was first formally described in 1823 as ''Diabasis flavolineatus'' by French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (1784–1838), with the type locality given as Cuba. The specific name is a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''flavo'' meaning "yellow" and ''lineatum'' meaning "lined", a reference to the yellow stripes on the flanks.

Uses

''H. flavolineatum'' is an abundant species within its range, and is caught using traps and seines. The catch is not recorded separately for this species. The flesh is normally sold fresh. Off Barbados it is one of the commoner species caught in fisheries. It is rare in the aquarium trade, but is more common in

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

displays.

References

External links

* * Video o
French Grunt / Haemulon flavolineatum
- Video taken in Belize off Ambergris Caye. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1450725 flavolineatum Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish described in 1823