Bergall
Encyclopedia
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...
found in the western Atlantic. It is edible and its musky taste is considered a delicacy by some. Specimens may grow to 12 inches though most range from 4-10. Often bergalls are found mixed in with black fish (Tautog), living on or near the same structures. Much of the food eaten by those bergalls living among Black fish are the leftovers from the Black's prey.
Cunners can be distinguished from the Tautog
Tautog
The tautog or blackfish also known as the "poor-man's lobster" , Tautoga onitis, is a fish of the wrasse family found in salt water from Nova Scotia to Georgia...
by their pointed snout. Cunners are generally smaller, so are usually thrown back by anglers who think they've caught a "short" Tautog. Cunners are pesky bait stealers, and anglers who target them use the smallest hooks possible. They are used as bait when fishing offshore, or filet for use inshore or as chum. They prefer to live near structures, such as sunken boulders. In past years, they have been important commercial fish, but now are considered pests.
Cunners can be confused with Black Seabass and other Grouper
Grouper
Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.Not all serranids are called groupers; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name grouper is usually given to fish in one of two large genera: Epinephelus...
, as well as Tautogs for their ability to change color.