Species: Agonostomus monticola, Mountain mullet
both lips thick
Agonostomus monticola (Bancroft in Griffith & Smith, 1834)
Mountain mullet
Body robust; convex between eyes; eyes without transparent fatty eyelid; mouth small, opens at front; top and bottom lips thick; without fleshy knob at tip of lower lips; teeth strong, imbedded in jawbones, in bands inside lips, those on inner row on top jaw with 2-3 points, those on lower jaw with 1-2 points; tooth bands on lower jaws almost meet in center; teeth on sides (and front) of roof of mouth; two short, widely spaced dorsal fins, IV slender spines + 9 rays; anal fin II, 10; pectorals high on body, 1st ray hard; pelvics inserted behind pectoral base; weakly forked tail; scales very rough, 40 (38-45) lateral scales; second dorsal and anal fins only with a few small scales on front base; no lateral line.
Olive above, white below, dark scale edges form crisscross lines on upper body; fins yellowish; upper 1/3 of pectoral base dark; juveniles with dark blotch on pectoral base and dark spot on base of tail fin.
Size: to 36 cm.
Habitat: adults in rivers, juveniles at river mouths; adults entering sea to spawn, where larvae develop.
Depth: 0-5 m.
A new world, tropical to warm temperate species; in our region it occurs from the Gulf of California to northern Peru, the Galapagos and Cocos Islands.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Freshwater
- Brackish
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
-
- Surface
- Near Surface
- Near Bottom
- Bottom
- Bottom + water column
- Habitat
-
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Freshwater
- Estuary
- Reef and soft bottom
- Sand & gravel
- Rocks
- Water column
- Beach
- FishBase Habitat
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- Pelagic
- Feeding Group
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- Herbivore
- Detritivore
- No Data
- Diet
-
- Benthic microalgae
- No Data
- Detritus
- Egg Type
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- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- No data
- Global Endemism
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- East Pacific + Atlantic (East +/or West)
- TEP non-endemic
- New world (East Pacific + West Atlantic)
- Transisthmian (East Pacific + Atlantic of Central America)
- All species
- Regional Endemism
-
- Eastern Pacific non-endemic
- Continent
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- Continent + Island (s)
- Island (s)
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- 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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- 36
- Depth Range Min
-
- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 5
