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Species: Pomadasys bayanus, Freshwater grunt, Purple-mouth grunt

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

elongate
D XII-XIII
juvenile - wavy stripes
mouth reaches under eye
pectoral not to pelvic tip
A: 2nd spine very long, stout

Pomadasys bayanus Jordan & Evermann, 1898

Purple-mouth grunt, Freshwater grunt

Elongate, strongly compressed; mouth long, reaches under center of eye, inside not red, lips thin; chin with 2 pores at front and 2 inside hole behind, plus a longitudinal groove; preopercle weakly or not serrated, ventral serrations not forward pointing; dorsal fin XII-XIII, 12, moderately notched; anal III, 7, second anal spine very long and stout, its length about two times eye diameter or more; pectoral fins relatively short, not reaching tips of depressed pelvic fins; pelvics short, not reaching anus (except in small juveniles); no scales on soft dorsal and anal fins; 50-51 pored lateral line scales; 8 oblique rows of scales between lateral line and origin of dorsal fin.

Silvery, with an orange tint on sides; fins orangish; juvenile with wavy stripes.

Size: grows to 36 cm.

Habitat: tolerates salinities between 20-30 ppt, but travels considerable distances up fast moving rivers.

Depth: 0-10 m.

Southern Baja to Peru.


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Salinity
  • Brackish
  • Non Marine
  • Freshwater
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Near Bottom
  • Bottom
  • Bottom + water column
Habitat
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Water column
  • Sand & gravel
  • Freshwater
  • Estuary
  • Soft bottom only
FishBase Habitat
  • Bentho-Pelagic
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • No Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Mobile benthic worms
Egg Type
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
  • No data
Global Endemism
  • East Pacific endemic
  • All species
  • Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
Regional Endemism
  • All species
  • Continent only
  • TEP endemic
  • Continental TEP endemic
  • Continent
  • 3 provinces (Cortez + Mexican + Panamic) endemic
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
  • Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
  • Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
IUCN Red List
  • Not evaluated / Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 36
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 10