Cunner Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Small, slender-bodied wrasse with mottled brown, olive, and rusty-red coloring that blends with rocky habitat
• Single continuous dorsal fin with a spiny front section grading into a soft rear section
• Thick lips and prominent, forward-pointing canine-like front teeth
• Rounded tail fin and a blunt, slightly pointed snout
• Typically small, rarely exceeding 25 cm (10 in)

Common look-alikes

• Tautog: much larger and heavier-bodied with a darker, more uniformly blackish-brown or olive coloration and thicker lips than the smaller, more reddish-toned Cunner.
• Juvenile Tautog: can resemble a Cunner at small sizes, but shows a deeper body and darker, more blotched pattern with less reddish tint.
• Other small wrasses: generally differ in fin ray counts and color pattern, but the Cunner's mix of reddish-brown mottling and single long dorsal fin is distinctive in its range.

Where you'll see one

Cunner are common around rocky reefs, jetties, pilings, and eelgrass beds in cool coastal waters of the northwestern Atlantic, from the Canadian Maritimes south to New Jersey, often seen singly or in small groups hovering close to structure at shallow to moderate depths.