Species: Acanthistius pictus, Peruvian sea-bass
opercle: 3 spines, blotch between top 2
Acanthistius pictus (Tschudi, 1846)
Peruvian sea-bass
Body oblong compressed; forehead profile nearly straight; mouth large; lips very thick in large fish; jaws with inner bands of small, slender teeth, and outer row of small canines; teeth at front and center of roof of mouth; a small supramaxilla bone above main bone (maxilla) of top jaw; preopercle serrated, with 2-3 large forward pointing spines on its lower edge; operculum with 3 strong spines; 10-12 lower rakers, 2-3 upper; dorsal fin continuous, XI, 3rd to 5th spines longest, 17 soft rays, rear edge rounded; anal fin III, 2nd spine largest, 8 rays, with rounded margin; tail with straight edge and rounded corners, with 15 branched rays; 19 pectoral rays, most branched; pelvics inserted behind base of pectoral, reaching nearly to anal origin in small fish; scales very rough, small, about 145-150 in lateral series; lateral line complete, tubes with branches; lateral line scales distinct, about equal sized to neighboring scales.
Mottled brown; dorsal, tail, anal and pelvic fins dark brown; pectorals pinkish; a dark stripe from snout through eye; a dark oblique bar from eye to lower corner of operculum, another similar bar from corner of mouth to lower edge of operculum; a dark oblique blotch with white top & bottom margins on upper edge of operculum between uppermost two spines.
Apparently reaches ~ 80 cm.
Depth: 10-50 m.
Found on shallow rocky reefs.
Southern Ecuador to central Chile.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom only
- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Reef only
- Rocks
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- No Data
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- No Data
- Bony fishes
- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Egg Type
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- Pelagic larva
- No data
- Pelagic
- Global Endemism
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- East Pacific endemic
- All species
- TEP non-endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent only
- Continent
- All species
- Temperate Eastern Pacific, primarily
- Peruvian province, primarily
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- Residency
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- Vagrant
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
- South Temperate (Peruvian Province )
- IUCN Red List
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- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 80
- Depth Range Min
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- 10
- Depth Range Max
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- 50
