The pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides, is a saltwater

Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...

 fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 of the Sparidae

Sparidae

The Sparidae is a family of fish, included in the order Perciformes. The fish of the family are commonly called sea breams and porgies . The sheepshead, scup, and red sea bream are species in this family. They are found in shallow temperate and tropical waters and are bottom-dwelling carnivores....

 family (commonly called breams and porgies). It inhabits mostly subtropical shallow coastal waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

Description

The pinfish is a small fish, growing only to about 4.5 in (11.4 cm). Both males and females have a silvery sheen all over, five to six vertical bars on the side. They have an olive back, with yellow and white pigmentation and blue, green, and purple iridescence. Its anterior dorsal fin has 12 rigid, spiny rays capable of superficially puncturing human skin (hence the common name pinfish) giving way posteriorally to 12 more short soft rays.

Range

The pinfish is found in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 and along the United States coast from Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and abundantly in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and down along the Mexican Gulf Coast. It is also found along the northern Yucatan

Yucatán

Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....

 coast and some northern Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 islands, though it is less common throughout the tropical portions of its range.

Habitat

Adult pinfish prefer protected waters between 30 and 50 feet deep, while juveniles are common over seagrass beds or other structure such as rocky bottoms, jetties, pilings, and in mangrove areas where there is cover from predators. They prefer water that has a higher salinity. Pinfish rarely school, but can be found near each other, especially along structure which supports barnacles and mollusks.

Diet

Pinfish eat shrimp, fish eggs, insect larvae, polychaete worms and amphipods, and plant matter.

Predators

Pinfish are preyed on by alligator gar

Alligator gar

The Alligator Gar , Atractosteus spatula, is a primitive ray-finned fish. Unlike other Gars, the mature Alligator Gar possesses a dual row of large teeth in the upper jaw. Its name derives from the alligator-like appearance of these teeth along with the fish's elongated snout...

, longnose gar

Longnose gar

The longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus, is a primitive ray-finned fish of the gar family. It is also known as the needlenose gar.- Description :...

, ladyfish, spotted seatrout

Spotted Seatrout

The spotted seatrout also known as speckled trout,or spotted weakfish is a common estuary fish found in the southern United States...

, red drum

Red Drum

The Red Drum , also known as Channel Bass, Redfish, Spottail Bass or simply Reds, is a game fish that is found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Northern Mexico. It is the only species in the genus Sciaenops...

, southern flounder

Southern flounder

The southern flounders are a small family of flounders found in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. There are six species of southern flounders in four genera....

, and bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...

.

Reproduction

Sexual maturity is reached at about one year, when the fish has reached 80 to 100 mm in length. Spawning season takes place in the fall and winter with eggs that are broadcast in the water by the female, then fertilized by the male. The number of eggs varies; approximately 7,000 to 90,000 that hatch after 48 hours. Young are not protected by adults. They are in the larval stage until they reach about 12 mm in length, then the juvenile stage until they reach 80 mm. Because they are eaten by many other species, the life span is generally short.

Importance as a Game and Foodfish

Pinfish are not generally sought as sport or food in the United States due to their small size and numerous small bones. They are used as live bait by anglers targeting red drum

Red Drum

The Red Drum , also known as Channel Bass, Redfish, Spottail Bass or simply Reds, is a game fish that is found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Northern Mexico. It is the only species in the genus Sciaenops...

, speckled sea trout and flounder

Flounder

The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic...

. They may be caught on small hooks along piers and jetties, but often are considered a nuisance bait stealer.