Hogfish
Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: a long, protruding, pig-like snout used to root through sand for molluscs — the mark the fish is named for. The look-alike to rule out is Spanish Hogfish: a different genus entirely: the Spanish hogfish has a sharply divided colour scheme, purple-blue over the front and upper body and bright yellow behind, and no dorsal filaments.
Last updated
| Scientific name | Lachnolaimus maximus |
|---|---|
| Also called | hog snapper, capitaine |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Wrasse |
| Temperature | Common between about 70 and 84 °F. |
How to identify a Hogfish
- A long, protruding, pig-like snout used to root through sand for molluscs — the mark the fish is named for.
- The first three dorsal spines are drawn out into long trailing filaments.
- A deeply forked tail with the lobes extended on large males, and colour that shifts from pale mottled to deep red-orange within seconds.
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 |
|---|---|
| Spanish Hogfish | A different genus entirely: the Spanish hogfish has a sharply divided colour scheme, purple-blue over the front and upper body and bright yellow behind, and no dorsal filaments. |
| Red Porgy | Porgies have a blunt, steep forehead, no snout to speak of and no trailing dorsal spines. |
Where it lives
Florida, the Keys, the Gulf and the Caribbean. Works reef, ledges, rubble and the sand patches beside them, usually in 20 to 120 feet, rooting the bottom rather than hunting in the water column.
Temperature
Common between about 70 and 84 °F.
The conditions that matter
Hogfish feed on the bottom by sight and by rooting, so water clarity matters more than weather. They are among the first fish to move off a piece when a blow dirties the water, and among the first back when it cleans up. Depth and clarity logged against your catches map the pattern faster than anything else.
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 hogfish 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.