Species: Lonchopisthus sinuscalifornicus, Longtailed jawfish
body: blue bars & spots
D & A row blue spots
Lonchopisthus sinuscalifornicus Castro-Aguirre & Villavicencio-Garayzar, 1988
Longtailed jawfish
Elongate, compressed, tapering body; large bulbous head, eye large, high on side of head; mouth opens at front, large, extends to rear of eye; top jaw with rear end concave, blunt notch or hook on underside at rear; dorsal rays XI, 18 (occasionally 17 or 19); anal rays III, 17 (rarely 18); pectoral rays 16-20; tail fin much longer than head length, with long central point; lateral line on front half of body only, high; scales in longitudinal series 67-74.
Head and body tan or cream; body with thin pale blue bars at front, scattered pale blue spots behind; operculum with a large intense bluish-violet ocellus; median fins violet; dorsal and anal fins with a central row of pale blue spots.
Size: grows to about 30 cm.
Habitat: most specimens have been caught by trawls on flat sandy bottoms.
Depth: 3-56 m.
Gulf of California to Ecuador.
Closely related to L. higmani of the West Atlantic.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom only
- Bottom
- Habitat
-
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Sand & gravel
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Demersal
- Feeding Group
-
- Planktivore
- No Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
-
- No Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Pelagic fish larvae
- Mobile benthic worms
- Zooplankton
- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Egg Type
-
- Pelagic larva
- Brooded
- No data
- Global Endemism
-
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
- All species
- East Pacific endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- All species
- Continent
- Continent only
- TEP endemic
- 3 provinces (Cortez + Mexican + Panamic) endemic
- Continental TEP endemic
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
- Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
-
- 30
- Depth Range Min
-
- 3
- Depth Range Max
-
- 56
