| Family: |
Sciaenidae (Drums or croakers) |
| Max. size: |
25 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
| Environment: |
reef-associated; marine |
| Distribution: |
Eastern Pacific: throughout Gulf of California south to Peru. Recorded in the Galapagos Islands during the 1982-83 El Niño (Ref. 9405). |
| Diagnosis: |
Body elongate, moderately compressed, and deep, with a strongly arched dorsal profile; snout prominent; mouth small and sub-terminal; lower jaw enclosed by upper; chin with 5 pores but without barbels; edge of preopercle slightly serrate; lower branch of first gill arch with 6 gill rakers; second dorsal fin very long, with 32 to 33 soft rays; body uniformly dark, from purplish bronze to grayish brown; fins dark or blackish (Ref. 55763). |
| Biology: |
Adults are secretive nocturnal fish that hide under ledges by day and come out only at night to feed on the epifauna of the substrate. The adults sometimes form large inactive aggregations in caves, but little or no feeding occurs. Schools of juveniles appear only in the summer. |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 24 January 2020 Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
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