Species: Menticirrhus undulatus, California king-croaker, California corvina
breast scales v small
Menticirrhus undulatus (Girard, 1854)
California corvina, California king-croaker
Body elongate, rounded in cross-section, belly flat; head long, low; snout ~ conical, projecting beyond horizontal mouth; teeth villiform, no canines, outer row teeth of upper jaw scarcely enlarged if at all, molar teeth in throat; slits and pores above mouth; short thick barbel on chin with a pore at its point and several more at its base; gill rakers short, 9-15; preopercle weakly serrated; dorsal rays X-XI + I, 23-27, spines not reaching origin of soft dorsal; anal rays I, 8-9, spine weak; pectoral 17-19, short, not reaching end of pelvics; tail S shaped; scales of head and body rough, scales on breast smooth, much smaller than those on body; soft dorsal and anal fins without scaly sheath; pored lateral-line scales 52-60.
Upper head and body grey to metallic blue; white below; dark wavy lines on flanks; pectorals black; other fins dark to pale; juveniles with a dark blotch on the flank.
Size: 83.6 cm.
Habitat: coastal bays, sand bottoms.
Depth: 1-20 m.
Southern California through the Gulf of California.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
-
- Soft bottom only
- Mud
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Sand & gravel
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Data
- Mobile benthic worms
- Egg Type
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- Pelagic
- No data
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- East Pacific endemic
- All species
- TEP non-endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- All species
- California province, primarily
- Continent
- Temperate Eastern Pacific, primarily
- Continent only
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- IUCN Red List
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- Data deficient
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 83.6
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 20
