Tautog

For naval ships using this name, see USS Tautog.

Tautog
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Labriformes
Family: Labridae
Genus: Tautoga
Mitchill, 1814
Species:
T. onitis
Binomial name
Tautoga onitis
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms

Genus:

  • Hiatula Lacépède, 1800 (preoccupied in Mollusca)

Species:

  • Labrus onitis Linnaeus, 1758

The tautog (Tautoga onitis), also known as the blackfish, is a species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. This species inhabits hard substrate habitats in inshore waters at depths from 1 to 75 m (5 to 245 ft). It is currently the only known member of its genus.[2]

Barlett (1848) wrote, "[Tautaug] is a Native American word, and may be found in Roger Williams' Key to the Indian Language." The name is from the Narragansett language, originally tautauog (pl. of taut). It is also called a "black porgy" (cf. Japanese black porgy), "chub" (cf. the freshwater chub), "oyster-fish" (in North Carolina) or "blackfish" (in New York/New Jersey, New England).

  1. ^ Choat, J.H.; Pollard, D. (2010). "Tautoga onitis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T187479A8547027. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T187479A8547027.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Tautoga onitis". FishBase. October 2013 version.