Description

Also known as Carolina Searobin, Common Searobin, Grunt Fish, Gurnard, Flying Gurnard, Mother-in-law Fish, North American Searobin, Northern Gurnard, Sea Goblin, Web-fingered Gurnard.

Found singly, sometimes buried in the sand, or resting on shallow sandy bottoms, of bays and lagoons, more active at night when they use their Pectoral fins, like feet, to feel for invertebrates.
They feed on bivalves, crabs, small fish, shrimps, and squid.
Juveniles found in estuaries.
Length - 38cm
Depth - 15-170m
Widespread Western Atlantic

Sea robins have heavily armoured, spiny heads. They have separate rays (like soft spines) on their bellies, near the Pectoral fins these spines act like legs, as the fish walks along the bottom of the ocean they use these spines to find crustaceans in the sand.
They also grunt. French term for the word Gurnard means to grunt.
They have poisonous spines on their backs. Ref: https://www.fishbase.se/summary/1243