#7
I have always called the kind of fish used in the periwinkle blues project perch or ocean perch but they are really called cunners (Tautogolabrus Adspersus).
> http://www.gma.org/fogm/Tautogolabrus_adspersus.htm
There is a lot of data at the link above. This is interesting-
Cunners are omnivorous. As a rule they find their livelihood browsing among seaweeds, stones, or dock piles, biting off barnacles and small blue mussels, with the fragments of which they are often packed full. They devour enormous numbers of amphipods, shrimps, young lobsters, small crabs, and other small crustaceans of all kinds; also univalve mollusks and the smaller bivalves, hydroids, and annelid worms. They sometimes eat small sea urchins, bryozoans, and ascidians, and they occasionally capture small fish such as silversides, sticklebacks, pipefish, mummichogs, and the fry of larger species. Finally, eel grass is often found in cunner stomachs besides the animal food. Small cunner fry taken at Woods Hole were found by Dr. Linton to have fed chiefly on minute crustacea such as copepods, amphipods, and isopods.
This too-
Although not regarded as a game fish, the cunner affords amusement to thousands of vacationists near our seaside resorts. And the number caught, of which no record is kept, is so considerable that this must be classed as a useful little fish from the recreational standpoint.
Probably more cunners are caught on bits of clam than on any other bait. But they will take snails broken from their shells, bits of crab, lobster, or pieces of sea worms (Nereis) almost as freely. And we have even caught a few while trolling near rocks, for mackerel, with a small spinner tipped with a bit of white fish skin. The little ones are a great nuisance, often stealing the bait as fast as it is offered, and because it is a small-mouthed fish, very small hooks are best.
— Chris Boyne
