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- As an expression of parental pride in their daughter, Taylor Spencer ‘83 and Martha Spencer recently established an undergraduate field research endowment at the Batten School & VIMS.
  
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Kingfishes

Menticirrhus spp.

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Maximum over 60 cm; common 30 to 35 cm.
Diagnostic characters
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Found in shallow coastal waters over sand to sandy mud bottoms; rather common in the surf zone and in estuaries; juveniles may enter tidal rivers and creeks of low salinity (less than 1‰). Feeds on bottom-dwelling organisms, mainly worms and crustaceans. Caught mainly with bottom trawls, pound nets, and seines; also by anglers. No special fishery, but caught along with other Menticirrhus species; important fishing grounds are located to the north of the area. Marketed mostly fresh, an excellent foodfish.
Distribution Gulf of Maine to northern Argentina, common from Chesapeake Bay to Florida, and in Gulf of Mexico from Cape Sable, Florida to Bay of Campeche, Mexico, Caribbean coast to southern Brazil, not common in Venezuela, few records from the greater Antilles, none from the lesser Antilles.
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.