see text Calamus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sparidae, the seabreams and porgies.

[3] The type locality of C. megacephalus was given as Martinique, it was later found to be a junior synonym of Pagellus calamus, described by Achille Valenciennes in 1830.

[5] Calamus means "quill", an allusion to what Swainson described as “the second anal-fin spine, hollow, shaped as a pen".

The cheeks and gill cover are scaled but the snout and space in front of the eyes are naked.

[8] Calamus porgies are valued as food fishes and are important quarry species for both commercial and recreational fisheries.