Yellowfin croaker (
Umbrina roncador) is a species of croaker occurring from the
Gulf of CaliforniaThe Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, to
Point ConceptionPoint Conception extends into the Pacific Ocean in northwestern Santa Barbara County, California. 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 east-west trending part of the...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. They frequent
bayA bay is an area of water mostly surrounded or otherwise demarcated by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds....
s,
channelIn physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...
s,
harborA harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural. A man-made harbor will have sea walls or breakwaters and may require dredging. A natural harbor is surrounded on most sides by land.Harbors and ports are often...
s and other nearshore waters over sandy bottoms. These croakers are more abundant along
beachA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobblestones...
es during the summer months and may move to deeper water in winter.
Other common names include
yellowfin drum,
Catalina croaker,
yellowtailed croaker, and
golden croaker.
The body of the yellowfin croaker is elliptical-elongate with the back somewhat arched.
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Yellowfin croaker (
Umbrina roncador) is a species of croaker occurring from the
Gulf of CaliforniaThe Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, to
Point ConceptionPoint Conception extends into the Pacific Ocean in northwestern Santa Barbara County, California. 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 east-west trending part of the...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. They frequent
bayA bay is an area of water mostly surrounded or otherwise demarcated by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds....
s,
channelIn physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...
s,
harborA harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural. A man-made harbor will have sea walls or breakwaters and may require dredging. A natural harbor is surrounded on most sides by land.Harbors and ports are often...
s and other nearshore waters over sandy bottoms. These croakers are more abundant along
beachA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobblestones...
es during the summer months and may move to deeper water in winter.
Other common names include
yellowfin drum,
Catalina croaker,
yellowtailed croaker, and
golden croaker.
Description
The body of the yellowfin croaker is elliptical-elongate with the back somewhat arched. The head is conical and blunt. The color is iridescent blue to gray with brassy reflections on the back diffusing to silvery white below. The sides and back have many diagonal dark wavy lines. The fins are yellowish except for the dark
dorsal finA dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Depending on the species, an animal can have up to three of them. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns...
s. The yellowfin croaker differs from other California croakers in having a single fleshy projection, a
barbelA 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, and some species of shark...
, on the lower jaw and two heavy spines at the front of the anal fin.
The diet of the yellowfin croaker consists mainly of small fishes and fish fry; however, invertebrates such as small
crustaceanCrustaceans are a very large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles...
s,
wormThe term worm is used to describe many different distantly-related animals which have a long cylindrical body and no legs.Most animals called "worms" are invertebrates, but the term is also used for the amphibian caecilians and the slow worm Anguis, a legless burrowing lizard...
s and mollusks are also eaten in large numbers.
SpawningSpawning is the production or depositing of large quantities of eggs in water. The process is done by aquatic animals such as amphibians and fish.- Types of egg-layers :*egg scatterers*nest builders*egg hangers*mouth breeders*egg buriers...
takes place during the summer months when this species is most common along the sandy beaches. Maturity is apparently not reached until the fish are slightly over 9 inches long. The largest recorded specimen was 20.13 inches; no weight reported. However, an 18-inch yellowfin croaker weighed 4.5 pounds.
Fishing information
Yellowfin croaker are most often taken by surf anglers using softshelled
sand crabThe common term sand crab can refer to various species of crustacean:* Crustacea of the superfamily Hippoidea, often known as mole crabs* Crabs of the genus Ocypode, also commonly known as ghost crabs...
s, worms,
musselThe common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s,
clamIn the USA, the word "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, is as a general term covering all bivalve mollusks. The word can also be used in a more limited sense, to mean bivalves which burrow in sediment, as opposed to ones which attach themselves to the substrate , or ones which can...
s,
Gulp! soft baits, or cut fish as bait. They are most commonly caught between Ventura County and Central Baja California.