SPRINGS FIELD GUIDE
Hogchoker
FISH PROFILE
COMMON NAME
Hogchoker
Scientific name
Trinectes maculatus
FAMILY
LENGTH
1-3 inches
DIET
They sift small invertebrates like insect larvae and small crustaceans out of the sand.
FISH PROFILE
COMMON NAME
Hogchoker
Scientific name
Trinectes maculatus
FAMILY
LENGTH
1-3 inches
DIET
They sift small invertebrates like insect larvae and small crustaceans out of the sand.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
Hogchokers are a small, rounded flatfish. Like all flatfish, one eye migrates so that both eyes are on the same side, and they lie on the bottom with both eyes facing up. They reach up to 6 inches across but are commonly around 1-3 inches in the springs. They are well camouflaged with a dark brown body with thin black stripes on the upper side and lighter ventral side.
RANGE, HABITAT, BEHAVIOR, AND dIET
Although often called a “freshwater flounder,” neither of those descriptors is entirely accurate for the hogchoker. They are a brackish-water species, and a member of the sole family rather than flounder. They are found in estuaries and bays of the eastern US, from Massachusetts down to Florida. They blend in with the riverbed, lying on the bottom, often partially covered with sediment. They sift invertebrates like insect larvae and small crustaceans out of the sand.
FUN FACTS
When you see a hogchoker in a Florida spring, you’re looking at a juvenile who has made a long trip from its birthplace. Hogchokers are born in salt or brackish water and travel up fresh water rivers. In springs, you will seldom see them much larger than 3 inches across. But as they mature, they will make the return trip to salt or brackish waters to reproduce, reaching a full size of around 6 inches.
What’s with the weird name? The rumored origin of the name is that when coastal fishermen found the full-grown soles in their nets, they would discard them on the beaches, as they are too bony for humans to value as food. Feral pigs would find and feed on these 6-inch wide bony fish, and have difficulty swallowing them.
All flatfish start life with eyes on each side of their heads, like a typical fish, but juveniles undergo metamorphosis with one eye migrating to the other side of the head and their bodies contorting sideways to spend their lives lying on their sides on the bottom. For many species of flatfish, the eye might migrate to the left or to the right, but hogchokers are a right sided flatfish, meaning that their left eye always migrates to the right side.