Roncador redirects here. For other uses, see Roncador (disambiguation)

Roncador (disambiguation)

Roncador can refer to:* Roncador Bank, Colombia* Roncador Cay, Colombia* Spotfin croaker , Pacific fish* USS Roncador , WWII submarine* Roncador Reef, Solomon Islands...

.

Spotfin croaker (Roncador stearnsii) is a species of croaker

Sciaenidae

Sciaenidae is a family of fish commonly called drums, croakers, or hardheads for the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make...

 occurring from Mazatlán

Mazatlán

Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...

, Mexico, to Point Conception

Point Conception

Point Conception is a headland along the Pacific coast of U.S. state of California, located in southwestern Santa Barbara County. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-south trending portion of coast to the north and 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...

, including the Gulf of California

Gulf of California

The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...

. It is the only species in the genus Roncador. In California, they are most commonly found south of Los Angeles Harbor. They live along beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

es and in bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

s over bottoms varying from coarse sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 to heavy mud

Mud

Mud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone . When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries the resultant layers are termed bay muds...

 and at depths varying from 4 to 50 feet or more. They prefer depressions and holes near shore.

Description

The body of the spotfin croaker is elongate, but heavy forward. The upper profile of the head is steep and slightly curved, and abruptly rounded at the very blunt snout. The mouth is underneath the head (subterminal). The color is silvery gray with bluish luster

Lustre (mineralogy)

Lustre is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. The word lustre traces its origins back to the Latin word lux, meaning "light", and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance....

 above and white below. There are dark wavy lines on the side, and a large black spot at the base of the pectoral fin.

The subterminal mouth, absence of a fleshy barbel

Barbel (anatomy)

A barbel on a fish is a slender, whiskerlike tactile organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, sturgeon, the zebrafish and some species of shark...

 and the large black spot at the base of the pectoral fin distinguish spotfin croakers from all other California croakers. Small "spotties" are sometimes confused with small white croaker

White croaker

White croaker is a species of croaker occurring in the Eastern Pacific. White croakers have been taken from Magdalena Bay, Baja California, to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, but are not abundant north of San Francisco. White croakers swim in loose schools at or near the bottom of sandy areas...

s, but a count of the 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...

 spines will quickly separate them; the spotfin croaker has 11 or fewer (usually ten), while the white croaker has 12 to 15. So-called "golden croaker

Golden croaker

Golden croaker may be a common name for several species of croaker:*Roncador stearnsii*Micropogonias undulatus*Umbrina roncador*Umbrina xanti...

s" are nothing more than large male spotfin croakers in breeding colors.

Spotfin croakers eat a wide variety of food items. As well as clam

Clam

The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...

s and worm

Worm

The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...

s, small crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s are eaten extensively. They use the large pavement-like pharyngeal (throat) teeth to crush their food. Male spotfin croakers first mature and spawn

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

 when two years old and about 9 inches (22.9 cm) long. Most females mature when three years old and 12.5 inches (31.8 cm) long. All are mature by the time they are four years old and have reached a size of 14.5 inches (36.8 cm). The spawning season runs from June to September and may take place offshore, since no ripe fish have been caught in the surf zone. (Juveniles of 1 inches (2.5 cm) appear in the surf in the fall.)

Spotfin croaker travel considerably, but with no definite pattern. They move extensively from bay to bay. For example, fish tagged in Los Angeles Harbor were later taken as far south as Oceanside

Oceanside

-Places:*Oceanside, New South Wales, Australia*Oceanside, British Columbia, Canada*Oceanside, California, United States*Oceanside, New York, United States*Oceanside, Oregon, United States-Other:...

; spotfin tagged in Newport Bay

Newport Bay

Newport Bay may refer to:*Disney's Newport Bay Club, a hotel situated at the Disneyland Paris*Newport Bay , an arm of Chincoteague Bay between the mainland of Worcester County, Maryland and Sinepuxent Neck...

 moved to Alamitos Bay

Alamitos Bay

Alamitos Bay is an inlet on the Pacific Ocean coast of southern California, United States, between the cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach, at the outlet of the San Gabriel River.The bay is named for the Spanish word for 'little poplars'.-Geography:...

 and vice versa.

Fishing information

Although some are caught throughout the year, late summer is best for spotfin croaker fishing. Good fishing seems to depend on runs. When a "croaker hole" is found and a run is on, good fishing can be had by all present whether in a bay, from a pier

Pier

A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...

or in the surf. Most spotfin croaker caught are small to medium sized fish. The largest recorded specimen was 27 inches, 10.5 pounds.

Here are excerpts on historical spotfin croaker fishing from an article by Ed Reis "Crazy Croakers" in the August 2010 issue of Pacific Coast Sportfishing:

"Croakers do not get much ink in the fishing news these days, but there was a time when the were a major item in newspaper catch reports (in Southern California). A hundred years ago they were incredibly abundant and drew the attention of many pier and surf fishermen,....

"...Spotfins ... furnished wide-open action when schooled up in "croaker holes" along the beaches or near piers. I enjoyed some fabulous encounters as a youngster fishing at Santa Monica. The wooden sand groin nearest the beach home of actress Marion Davies was a productive spot, as were the coastal inlets and estuaries.

"Mission Bay at San Diego was once famous for its spotfin fishing, but since its transformation by dredging and the huge increase in watercraft traffic, there is not much doing with spotfins these days. In the 1950's I had great luck at Imperial Beach, both in the surf and in the backwater sloughs. San Onofre was a destination for weekend campers, dedicated to surf fishing in the legendary croaker holes found there. Newport's bay was also renowned for it croakers. For whatever reason, spotfins are seldom found in San Diego's big bay, and after 11 years of concentrated bay fishing, I have taken only one.

"They favor clams, mussels, and worms for food and grow to over nine pounds in weight. Large males assume a brassy color during spawning and were called "golden croakers" and thought by some old-timers to be a separate species..."