Etymology Shortened form of Narragansett mishcùp (“porgy”) or its plural mishcùppaûog. The singular was also borrowed as mishcup, while another shortening of the plural yields the synonym paugie. The word was also borrowed as scuppaug.
1
A common sparoid food fish, Stenotomus chrysops, of temperate regions of the Atlantic coast of North America; the porgy.
When I was 12 years old, my father got me a boat and I went fishing off of Cape Cod. I hooked a scup and as I was reeling it in, I hooked a 4.5 foot baby thresher shark who proceeded to eat my boat.1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws, spoken by Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss):
1995, “sheepshead”, entry in Percy Russell, Anita Williams, The Nutrition and Health Dictionary, page 391, A saltwater fish, a cousin of porgies and scups. The sheepshead has large, broad incisor teeth, much like a sheep.
2 more examples
Scup, in the Bay also called porgy, maiden, and fairmaid, are rather plain-looking fish — dull silver with 12 to 15 indistinct vertical stripes, flecked with light blue on their sides.2006, Alice Jane Lippson, Robert L. Lippson, Life in the Chesapeake Bay, page 276:
On a lark, he took a small scup, or porgy, and a stamp pad and demonstrated how to make a print.2007 August 8, Brett Martin, “First a Hook, Then Ink: An Artist’s Catch”, in New York Times: