Species: Ophioscion simulus, Snub-nosed croaker

snout rounded

Ophioscion simulus Gilbert in Jordan & Evermann, 1898
Snub-nosed croaker
Body elongate, more or less compressed; head low and short, cavernous but firm to touch on top; eye 4.7 in head length; snout bulbous; small oblique mouth; teeth simple in bands, those in outer row of upper jaw slightly enlarged; snout with 8-12 pores; chin with 5 pores, without barbels; gill rakers short (< ½ length of gill filaments at angle of arch), 21-22; margin of preopercle with 14-16 weak spines, largest at angle; dorsal fin continuous but deeply notched, X + I, 26, second dorsal spine strong, long; anal rays II, 7, 2nd spine long & thick; pectoral fins reaching to about level of depressed pelvic fin tips or slightly beyond; tail margin S shaped or rounded; scales on body and all or most of head rough; inner 2/3 of soft dorsal and anal with a scaly sheath; pored lateral-line scales 51.
Color silvery grey, whitish below without dark stripes or streaks, although scale margins may be dusky giving overall speckled impression; fins dusky brown.
Size: reaches at least 30 cm.
Inhabits sand bottoms of bays.
Depth: 1-20 m.
Panama to Ecuador.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Brackish
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Near Bottom
- Bottom
- Bottom + water column
- Habitat
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- Sand & gravel
- Soft bottom only
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Estuary
- Water column
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic worms
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- No Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Egg Type
-
- Pelagic larva
- No data
- Pelagic
- Global Endemism
-
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
- All species
- East Pacific endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- All species
- Continental TEP endemic
- TEP endemic
- Continent only
- Panamic province endemic
- Continent
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 30
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 20