Northern Kingfish

Family Sciaenidae

REMARKS Maximum length just over 40 cm. The back is leaden in colour or grey, sometimes almost black; the sides are marked irregularly with dark bars; and the underside is whitish. Note the small barbel. The kingfish, by the way, has no air bladder, so cannot make the drumming or croaking noises which other members of the family produce.

This species is most common between Chesapeake Bay and New York, but it occurs up to Cape Cod and down to Florida. In the north it is a summer visitor. In the southern part of its range it is largely replaced by Menticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus), the SOUTHERN KINGFISH, shown below, which closely resembles it.