''Serranus tortugarum'', the chalk bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Serraninae The Serraninae is a subfamily of perciform ray-finned fishes in the family Serranidae. It is made up of ten genera and 87 species. Characters The fishes in the subfamily Serraninae, the serranines, are small species within the family Serranidae. ...

, classified as part of the family Serranidae which includes the groupers and

anthias Anthias are members of the family Serranidae and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. Anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange, and yellow reef fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film. The name Anthi ...

. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. This species is found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade.

Description

''Serranus tortugarum'' has a laterally compressed elongate body with a pointed snout which is shorter than the diameter of the eye. It has 3 clearly visible spines on the gill cover, the middle spine being straight. The margins of the preopercle are regularly serrated but there are no spines at its angle. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 12 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

contains 3 spines and 7 soft rays. The caudal fin is truncate. This species shows a variable coloration and patterning and can change the colour and pattern on its body in relation to its environment as a means of camouflage. The typical colour is that the head and body are pale blue-grey, to pinkish brown with 8 narrow, vertical blue-grey bars on the upper body, the most forward just to the rear of the eye and the last one on the base of the caudal fin. Where they are underneath the dorsal fin they extend onto it. There is a row of 2-3 pale blotches on the flanks and the colour of the fins varies from transparent to pinkish. The chalk bass attains a maximum total length of .

Distribution

''Serranus tortugarum'' is a species of the western Atlantic Ocean where it occurs from the Bahamas and southern Florida, throughout the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and along the mainland coast from southern Mexico to Venezuela.

Habitat and biology

''Serranus tortugarum'' is found over substrates of rock, silt or sand at depths of , although it is normally found at depths of less than . This is a social species that is normally recorded in loose aggregations which have a clear hierarchy. It is a synchronous

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

, this means that each fish has both male and female reproductive organs at the same time. However, self fertlisation has not been recorded. Chalk bass feed on zooplankton, although larger fish have been recorded feeding on more sizeable crustaceans which they swallowed whole. They frequently hover over sandy or rubble areas of seabed and use a nearby

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

shell for shelter.

Taxonomy

''Serranus tortugarum'' was first formally described in 1935 by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

biologist William H. Longley (1881-1937) with the type locality given as the Tortugas Islands in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

Utilisation

''Serranus tortugarum'' occurs in the aquarium trade.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2664473 chalk bass Fish of the Caribbean Taxa named by William Harding Longley chalk bass