California Sheephead (Female)
Semicossyphus pulcher

Physical Description

  • Females fully pink with white underbelly
  • Females smaller than males
  • Can grow to be 3 feet long and weigh 35 pounds
  • Protruding teeth used to prey on hard-shelled organisms

Range

  • Point Conception, California to Guadalupe Island, Baja California, Mexico
  • Gulf of California, Mexico

Habitat

  • Rocky reefs
  • Kelp forests
  • Depths of 10-100 feet

Diet

  • Sea urchins, bivalves, barnacles, and bryozoans (microscopic aquatic invertebrates)

Predators

  • Harbor seals and sea lions

Interesting Facts

  • California sheephead are born female but often become male later in life!
  • They can live to be 53 years old, very old for a fish.
  • At night, they hide in crevices and wrap themselves in a mucus cocoon to hide their scent from predators.
  • Sheepshead often get a parasitic flatworm, but the mutualistic senorita fish will clean it off of their skin and gills.

Sources: California Sea Grant

Photo: Howard Hall

Try to spot a live Sheephead on Birch Aquarium’s Kelp Cam!

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