Tautog
Jump aboard for a family friendly fishing charter experience of a lifetime.
Tautog are heavy, stout fish with short, rather rounded snout, nearly equal to eye diameter, small slightly subinferior mouth and thick rubbery lips. They have powerful jaws with 2 to 3 series of strong stout conical teeth which gradually decrease in size posteriorly, in the front of each jaw larger than the others. In the rear of the mouth they have two groups of flat, strong, rounded, crushing pharyngeal teeth. Together these are used to pick and crush prey such as mollusks and crustaceans. Posterior end of maxilla is reaching vertical through anterior nostril in adults and slightly anterior to vertical through front margin of eye in juveniles. The Tautog have plump elongated bodies and broad tails and a high, arched heads with moderate eyes. Head length is somewhat shorter than body depth. Their body is about 3 times as long as deep, not counting the caudal fin. Caudal peduncle is deep. Body covered with small, thin, cycloid scales and a tough skin; membrane of dorsal and anal fins partly covered with small scales. They have a scaleless cheek region that is smooth to the touch; top of head, preorbital, maxilIa, lower jaw, interopercle, and posterior portions of preopercle are naked. Their skin also has a rubbery quality with a heavy slime covering, which helps to protect them when swimming among rocks. Their dorsal fin extends the length of the back nearly to the tail over the gill slit. The anterior three-quarters of this fin possess a series of stiff, sharp spines, and the paired pelvic fins have one spine each. The dorsal fin continuous, originates over the upper corner of the gill openings and runs back the whole length of the trunk to caudal peduncle. Anal fin rounded in outline, originate posterior through midpoint to the soft portion of the dorsal, under which it stands. Caudal fin broad, truncate, or slightly rounded at the corners. Pelvic fin moderate, at vertical through midpoint of pectoral fin. Pectoral fin relatively large, broad, somewhat rounded. Lateral line complete and continuous, arched anteriorly. Each of the ventrals has one stout spine. Gill rakers are short, blunt. The dorsal fin has 16 to 17 spines and 10 to 11 soft rays. The anal fin has 3 stout spines and 7 or 8 soft rays. Pectoral fin rays 16. Lateral line scales 60-68. Gill rakers 9 on lower limb of first arch branchiostegals 5 or 6 vertebrae (16) 17 + 18 Maximum length is 3 ft (0.91 m), weight 25 pounds (11 kg). The average weight is 1 to 3 lb (0.45 to 1.4 kg). Tautog on different bottoms vary greatly in color and in their markings. Males and adults are mottled brown, dark chocolate and dark olive green, or black, with a white or gray chin and underbelly and irregular white blotches along the sides. The belly is only slightly paler than the sides, but the chin is usually white on larger fish, a very conspicuous character. Females and juveniles are paler in color with large mousy brown and grey mottling on the sides. Tautog become blacker in color as they grow older and their coloring also varies depending on the local bottom habitat. The distinguishing feature of the adult male Tautog is the large protruding forehead. Mature males are often referred to as chinners because of the white patch on the chin. Females tend to be dull mottled brown, usually with a series of lateral blotches. Tautog are related to, and often confused with, another species of wrasse family known as the Cunner. The tautog suggests an overgrown Cunner, but it is a heavier, stouter fish with caudal peduncle so broad and caudal fin so little wider than the peduncle that it is hard to hold a heavy one by the tail. The most obvious differences between the tautog and cunner are that the dorsal profile of the head of the tautog is high-arched (more pointed in profile in cunner), its nose is very blunt, and its lips are much thicker. A more precise if less obvious character is that the cheek region close in front of the gill opening is naked in the tautog (scaly in the cunner) and velvety to the touch. The fins of the tautog practically reproduce those of the cunner in relative size and location. Dorsal spines 16 or 17 in Tautog and 18 in cunner; anal fin rays 7 or 8 in Tautog and 8 or 9, rarely 7 or 9 in cunner. Also, the pelvic fins in tautog are located under the midpoint of the pectoral fins while at a vertical through anterior base of pectorals in cunner. Tautog also grow much larger than cunner.