The California lizardfish is a lizardfish primarily inhabiting the Californian coast. It has a long, brown body, which offers it camouflage in its habitat, the sandy bottom of the ocean. From its hiding spot on the bottom it ambushes small fish and squid. California lizardfish are oviparous and are believed to spawn in the summer months.

Description

The California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 lizardfish derives its name from its elongated cylindrical body and lizard-like head and mouth. The body is uniformly brown on its back, with its sides fading to tan and a white belly. It has a dorsal fin

Dorsal fin

A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...

 at its midback, no spinous fin rays, a small adipose fin, yellowish pelvic fins ahead of its dorsal fin with about eight or nine rays each, and a forked caudal fin. The longest fish recorded was 25.17 inches (63.9 cm) long, and although specimens have not been weighed, they have been reported to weigh up to 4 pounds (1.8 kg)

Because of its long body and sharp teeth, the California lizardfish is occasionally mistaken for the barracuda

Barracuda

The barracuda is a ray-finned fish known for its large size and fearsome appearance. Its body is long, fairly compressed, and covered with small, smooth scales. Some species could reach up to 1.8m in length and 30 cm in width...

. The barracuda, however, is silvery rather than brown and has two similar-sized dorsal fins with a wide space between them, whereas the lizardfish only has a single dorsal fin with a tiny fleshy fin behind it.

Range

The California lizardfish occurs from Guaymas

Guaymas

Guaymas is a city and municipality located in the southwest part of the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. The city is located 117 km south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and 242 miles from the U.S. border, and is the principal port for the state. The municipality is located in the...

, Mexico to San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. Some specimens have even been found as far north as British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada and as far south as the Galapagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

. Although it is most commonly found on sandy bottoms in shallow water ranging from 5 to 150 feet deep, specimens have been found at depths up to 750 feet.

The California lizardfish is not sought by most anglers because its flesh has a strong taste resembling iodine

Iodine

Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....

, but can uncommonly be taken in fairly large numbers by anglers fishing for halibut

Halibut

Halibut is a flatfish, genus Hippoglossus, from the family of the right-eye flounders . Other flatfish are also called halibut. The name is derived from haly and butt , for its popularity on Catholic holy days...

 and other shallow water bottom-dwelling fish. They will take most baited hooks.

Natural history

The California lizardfish spends most of its time camouflaged at the sandy bottom, buried or unburied, with its body propped up by its front ventral fins at a slight angle. When prey in the form of small fish or squid swims past, the fish will dart upward to grab it, swallowing the prey whole. This species is believed to spawn during the summer months, when adult fish have been observed to congregate on sandy patches. Young lizardfish are less than 3 inches (7.6 cm) long, nearly transparent, and scaleless, with a row of large black spots under the skin of the belly. They may live for about nine years, as the otoliths of a specimen taken off the Galapagos Islands indicates. The California lizardfish is also host to a parasitic tapeworm, Anantrum histocephalum.