Cunner
Cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: a pointed snout with thin lips and small forward-pointing teeth — nothing like a tautog's rubbery mouth. The look-alike to rule out is Tautog: tautog have thick rubbery lips, a blunt steep forehead, a heavy compact body, and large males carry a white chin patch. Cunner stay small and pointed-nosed.
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| Scientific name | Tautogolabrus adspersus |
|---|---|
| Also called | bergall, chogset, blue perch |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Wrasse |
| Temperature | Active between about 45 and 65 °F. |
How to identify a Cunner
- A pointed snout with thin lips and small forward-pointing teeth — nothing like a tautog's rubbery mouth.
- A small fish, mottled brown, red, blue or olive depending on the bottom it is over.
- A long spiny dorsal fin running most of the back, and no white chin patch at any size.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Tautog | Tautog have thick rubbery lips, a blunt steep forehead, a heavy compact body, and large males carry a white chin patch. Cunner stay small and pointed-nosed. |
| Black Sea Bass | Sea bass have a trailing filament on the top of the tail and pale spots in rough rows. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Tautog and Black Sea Bass.
Where it lives
The Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Chesapeake Bay, on the same rocks, jetties, wrecks and mussel beds as tautog and usually in far greater numbers.
Temperature
Active between about 45 and 65 °F.
The conditions that matter
Cunner are the bait thief of northeast structure fishing — small, constant, and quick enough to strip a crab before a tautog ever reaches it. A spot that keeps returning bare hooks is usually holding cunner rather than nothing at all, which is useful information rather than a wasted drop.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about cunner into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.