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