Species: Totoaba macdonaldi, the Totoaba
head pointed
no canines
Totoaba macdonaldi (Gilbert, 1890)
Totoaba
Elongate, fusiform, compressed; head pointed; eye moderate size; mouth large, oblique, lower jaw a little projecting; snout with 5 pores; chin with 6 pores, no barbels; teeth in narrow bands; top jaw with teeth on outer row enlarged and conical, including a few sharp teeth at tip of jaw, but no canines; inner teeth of lower jaw slightly larger than those of outer row; 15-20 gill rakers; preopercle smooth; dorsal fin strongly notched but not divided, X + I, 23-26; anal fin short based (7-8 soft rays), 2nd spine moderate (~ 2/3 length of 1st ray), robust; tail bluntly (strongly in juveniles) pointed; scales rough on head and body, smooth under head; soft dorsal and anal fins without scales; 50-56 pored lateral line scales.
Dusky silver, yellowish below, fins darker; gill chamber dark, with yellow edge. juvenile spotted.
Reaches 200 cm and nearly 100 Kg.
Habitat: benthic on soft bottoms, entering rivers to spawn, juveniles usually in river mouths and around rock reefs.
Depth: 0-25 m.
Northern 2/3 of the Gulf of California.
Formerly very abundant, but now stock is seriously depleted due to overfishing. A much sought after food fish.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Brackish
- Freshwater
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
-
- Near Bottom
- Bottom
- Bottom + water column
- Mid Water
- Habitat
-
- Sand & gravel
- Mud
- Water column
- Estuary
- Freshwater
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Bentho-Pelagic
- Feeding Group
-
- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
-
- Bony fishes
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Data
- Egg Type
-
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- No data
- Global Endemism
-
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
- East Pacific endemic
- All species
- Regional Endemism
-
- Continent only
- Cortez province endemic
- Continental TEP endemic
- Temperate Eastern Pacific, primarily
- TEP endemic
- All species
- Northern Gulf of California endemic
- Continent
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Listed
- Critically endangered
- CITES
-
- Listed
- Appendix I
- Length Max
-
- 200
- Depth Range Min
-
- 0
- Depth Range Max
-
- 25
