Scup | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Spariformes |
Family: | Sparidae |
Genus: | Stenotomus |
Species: | S. chrysops |
Binomial name | |
Stenotomus chrysops (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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The scup (Stenotomus chrysops) is a fish that occurs primarily in the Atlantic from Massachusetts to South Carolina. [3] Along with many other fish of the family Sparidae, it is also commonly known as porgy. [4]
Scup grow as large as 18 in (460 mm) and weigh 3–4 lb (1.4–1.8 kg), but they average 0.5–1.0 lb (0.23–0.45 kg). Scup can live up to 20 years; females can begin to reproduce at the age of two. [5] Every year female scups lay approximately 7,000 eggs in sand and weed abundant areas. [6]
In the Middle Atlantic Bight, scup spawn along the inner continental shelf. Their larvae end up in inshore waters, along the coast and in estuarine areas. At two to three years of age, they mature. Scup winter along the mid and outer continental shelf. When the temperature warms in the spring, they migrate inshore. [7]
They are fished for by both commercial and recreational fishermen. The scup fishery is one of the oldest in the United States, with records dating back to 1800. Scup was the most abundant fish in colonial times. Fishermen began using trawls in 1929, which increased catches dramatically. The species was termed overfished in 1996, and today there is evidence of a rebound. Today, scup are still caught primarily using an otter trawl. [8]
The flesh is "firm and flaky", [9] with a "sweet almost shrimplike flavor". [10] Many consumers like their light flavor and they are characterized as panfish. Popular methods of cooking include frying, broiling, and baking.
Though the flesh is similar to that of more prestigious fish in the sea bream family like daurade and orata, the names "scup" and "porgy" are sometimes considered unattractive, leading to culinary names like orata Americana and Montauk sea bream. [10]
Its similarity to Pagrus major and its mild and fatty characteristics makes it suitable for sushi. [11]
Scup are heavily fished commercially and recreationally. Management measures for the species generally include size limits, bag limits, fishing seasons, and equipment requirements. Scup are also managed through quotas that are separately regulated during the different seasons. [12] In Massachusetts, management plans result in the distribution of 78% of the yearly permitted harvest of scups for commercial purposes, and 22% for recreational fishing. [6]
Since scups attack bait frantically, squid strips are the most common choice of bait because they stay intact and suspended on the hook after several strikes. Anglers also use sand-worms and clam as baits for scup due to clams and worms being part of the scups actual diet. [6]
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.
Hake is the common name for fish in the Merlucciidae family of the northern and southern oceans and the Phycidae family of the northern oceans. Hake is a commercially important fish in the same taxonomic order, Gadiformes, as cod and haddock.
Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net, which is heavily weighted to keep it on the seafloor, through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different species of fishes or sometimes targeted species. Trawls are often called towed gear or dragged gear.
Bycatch, in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juveniles of the target species. The term "bycatch" is also sometimes used for untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting. Non-marine species that are caught but regarded as generally "undesirable" are referred to as rough fish or coarse fish.
The tautog, 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. It is currently the only known member of its genus.
Wahoo is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish.
The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than it is relative to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just 8.4 per cent of the UK population but lands at its ports over 60 per cent of the total catch in the UK.
The environmental impact of fishing includes issues such as the availability of fish, overfishing, fisheries, and fisheries management; as well as the impact of industrial fishing on other elements of the environment, such as bycatch. These issues are part of marine conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. According to a 2019 FAO report, global production of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals has continued to grow and reached 172.6 million tonnes in 2017, with an increase of 4.1 percent compared with 2016. There is a growing gap between the supply of fish and demand, due in part to world population growth.
The Atlantic surf clam, also called the bar clam, hen clam, skimmer or simply sea clam, is a very large, edible, saltwater clam or marine bivalve mollusk in the family Mactridae. It is one of the most commonly found species of bivalves in the western Atlantic Ocean. Able to reach sizes between 7.9 and 8.9 inches in length, Atlantic surf clams are much larger than Spisula solida, which also resides in the eastern Atlantic coastal waters. Atlantic surf clams reproduce in late summer, when the water temperatures peak.
The black bream, also commonly known as the southern black bream, southern bream and blue-nosed bream, is a species of anadromous ray-finned fish of the porgy family Sparidae. A deep-bodied fish, it is occasionally confused with other similar species that occur within its range, but is generally distinguished from these species by a lack of yellow ventral and anal fins. Southern black bream are endemic to the southern coasts of Australia from Shark Bay in Western Australia to Ulladulla, New South Wales, as well as Tasmania.
The summer flounder or fluke is a marine flatfish that is found in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States and Canada. It is especially abundant in waters from North Carolina to Massachusetts.
This page is a list of fishing topics.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
As with other countries, the 200 nautical miles (370 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of the United States gives its fishing industry special fishing rights. It covers 11.4 million square kilometres, which is the second largest zone in the world, exceeding the land area of the United States.
Mahi-mahi are swift and acrobatic game fish with striking colours. These colours darken when the fish dies The current IGFA all tackle record is 39.91 kilograms (88lb), caught in 1998 in Exuma, Bahamas by Chris Johnson of Lake Mary, Florida. Catches average 7 to 13 kilograms, and any mahi-mahi over 18 kilograms (40 lb) is exceptional. Males are often larger than females.
Smelt-whiting is the common name for various species of the family Sillaginidae. The Sillaginidae are distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region, ranging from the west coast of Africa to Japan and Taiwan in the east, as well occupying as a number of small islands including New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. Well known members of this family include King George whiting, Japanese whiting, northern whiting, sand whiting and school whiting.
Porgy is the common name in Australia for any fish which belongs to the family Sparidae. They are also called bream. Porgies live in shallow temperate marine waters and are bottom-dwelling carnivores. Most species possess grinding, molar-like teeth. They are often good eating fish, particularly the gilt-head bream and the dentex.
Sustainable sushi is sushi made from fished or farmed sources that can be maintained or whose future production does not significantly jeopardize the ecosystems from which it is acquired. Concerns over the sustainability of sushi ingredients arise from greater concerns over environmental, economic and social stability, and human health.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the fishing industry:
Stenotomus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. The fishes in this genus are found in the western Atlantic Ocean.