Home › Volumes › Fishes › The Grunts
Common Grunt; White Grunt
This is by far the most important of all the grunts. Its range extends from Cape Hatteras and Pensacola to Brazil. It is common everywhere on sandy shores, and it is par excellence the grunt of our South Atlantic States and Florida. At Key West it is the most abundant of all the food-fishes, and is caught the year round, the best time being in the fall. Their spawning season is in August and September, at which time they gather into immense schools on shoal, feathery, and rock bottom, where they spawn. The eggs are said to be "gritty" to the touch and about the size of a No. 10 shot; when ripe they separate and flow freely from the fish. After spawning, the schools break up and the fish scatter. They are so abundant, however, that they can usually be found in large numbers on any suitable bottom. About Key West the white grunt grows to 18 inches in length and 4 pounds in weight, though the average is much less.
About Porto Rico, where it is called cachicata and boca colorado, it is one of the most abundant and useful species, and was seen by us in all the markets of the island. It is there caught either in fishtraps or haul-seines, while at Key West many are taken with hook and line. As a pan-fish the common grunt is not excelled.
Colour in life, light bluish; series of scales, each with a small brown or brassy spot, these forming indistinct narrow lines running upward and backward; body of scales above lateral line bluish, the border brownish olive; a brassy band along lateral line; back with some bronze; under parts whitish; about twelve narrow, irregular bright blue lines on head, separated by broad brassy lines, these sometimes extending on body; inner edge of maxillary orange; lower anterior edge of opercle yellow; inside of mouth red or deep yellow; lips dusky; dorsal; grayish, with a narrow yellow edge on spinous portion; caudal plain gray; anal gray, tinged with yellow.