Pacific Surfperch
Rhacochilus vacca
Physical Description
- Oval-shaped fish with deeply forked caudal (tail) fin.
- Dark coloration with a dark bar on side beneath the dorsal (top) fin.
- Top fin’s rays are longer in front, shorter in back.
- Often has yellow pelvic (bottom) fins.
- Upon death, fish turns almost white.
Range
- Southern British Columbia to Isla Guadalupe, central Baja California, Mexico.
Habitat
- Found in shallow water, rocky areas, and around piers, pilings, and docks.
- Found in oceans and bays.
- Bottom-dwelling fish , in depths to 150 feet.
Reproduction
- Surfperches have internal fertilization and give birth to live young.
- There are often 1-113 young per litter.
- Juveniles are born as miniature versions of adults.
Diet
- Large, hard-shelled invertebrates, such as mussels, crabs, brittle stars, sand dollars, barnacles, bean clams, limpets, dove shells, California cones, Norris top shells, and chitons (a class of marine mollusks).
Predators
- Adult rubberlip, pile, and striped surfperches are considered too large to be eaten by many predators.
- Kelp bass eat juvenile surfperch.
- Electric rays, sharks, large serranid bass, seals, and sea lions are also potential predators of surfperch.
Interesting Facts
- Pile surfperch are able to crush all of their hard-shelled prey with their fused teeth plates. Since other perch do not have this ability, some scientists think they should be in their own genus.
- It is a common fish caught off of piers; one of the ways to fish for it includes bobbing an entire clump of mussels (their favorite food) with hooks attached!
- They are also commonly called pile perch.
Sources: Pierfishing.com; fishnbc.com; CentralBiodiversity.org; Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates; California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Photo: Herb Gruenhagen