Pacific Surfperch
Rhacochilus vacca

Physical Description

• Dark coloration with a dark bar on side beneath the top fin
• Top fin’s rays longer in front, shorter in back
• Often has yellow bottom fins
• Deeply forked tail fin
• Upon death turns almost white

Range

• Southern British Columbia to Isla Guadalupe, central Baja California, Mexico

Habitat

• Shallow water, rocky areas, around piers, pilings, and docks 
• Oceans and bays
• Bottom-dwelling, in depths to 150 feet

Diet

• Large, hard-shelled invertebrates, such as crabs, brittle stars, sand dollars, barnacles, bean clams, mussels, limpets, dove shells, California cones, Norris top shells, and chitons (a class of marine molluscs)

Predators

• Adult rubberlip, pile, and striped surfperch are considered too large to often 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 included bobbing an entire clump of mussels (their favorite food) with hooks attached!

Sources: Pierfishing.com; fishnbc.com; CentralBiodiversity.org; Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates

Photo: Herb Gruenhagen