What is "tautog"

Chub \Chub\, n. [This word seems to signify a large or thick fish. Cf. Sw. kubb a short and thick piece of wood, and perh. F. chabot chub.] (Zo["o]l.) A species to fresh-water fish of the Cyprinid[ae] or Carp family. The common European species is Leuciscus cephalus; the cheven. In America the name is applied to various fishes of the same family, of the genera Semotilus, Squalius, Ceratichthys, etc., and locally to several very different fishes, as the tautog, black bass, etc.

Chub mackerel (Zo["o]l.), a species of mackerel ( Scomber colias) in some years found in abundance on the Atlantic coast, but absent in others; -- called also bull mackerel, thimble-eye, and big-eye mackerel.

Chub sucker (Zo["o]l.), a fresh-water fish of the United States ( Erimyzon sucetta); -- called also creekfish.

edible marine fish of the Atlantic coast of North America, 1640s, from Narragansett tautauog, plural of taut. Translated by Roger Williams as "sheep's head."

n. A fish of the wrasse family found in salt water off of eastern North America from Nova Scotia to South Carolina ((taxlink Tautoga onitis species noshow=1)).

n. large dark-colored food fish of the Atlantic coast of North America [syn: blackfish, Tautoga onitis]

The tautog or blackfish, Tautoga onitis, is a species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. This species inhabits hard substrate habitats in inshore waters at depths from . It is currently the only known member of its genus.

Barlett (1848) wrote, "[Tautaug] is a Native American word, and may be found in Roger Williams' Key to the Indian Language." The name is from the Narragansett language, originally tautauog (pl. of taut). It is also called a "black porgy" (cf. Japanese black porgy), "chub" (cf. the freshwater chub), "oyster-fish" (in North Carolina) or "blackfish" (in New York/New Jersey, New England).