California corbina

Menticirrhus undulatus is a marine demersal fish of the family Sciaenidae ^[1]. According to FishBase it lives in the eastern Pacific, from California, in the United States, to Peru ^[2].

The published biological data come mostly from California and from Baja California, in Mexico. It feeds on bottom fauna, chiefly polychaetes and small fishes, and the IUCN assesses it as Data Deficient ^[3],[4].

According to FishBase, the species occurs in the eastern Pacific from California to Peru, is marine and demersal, and is associated with sandy shores and bays, often in the surf zone of the open coast ^[2].

In Mexico it was sampled with gill nets at 10 stations in Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, in Baja California Sur, where it was most abundant in July and preferred the muddy bottoms of the middle and inner parts of the lagoon ^[3].

We found no published study of the species in Peruvian waters. The acanthocephalan Illiosentis cetratus, which lives in its intestine, was collected from fish at Redondo Beach, in southern California, in 2017 ^[5].

FishBase gives a maximum length of 71 cm total length, a maximum published weight of 3.9 kg and a maximum recorded age of 8 years; spawning begins in July and is pelagic ^[2].

The 112 fish caught in Ojo de Liebre Lagoon in 1995 measured 32.0 to 42.5 cm standard length and weighed 76.5 to 1077.0 g; 70 % of the stomachs held food ^[3].

In Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, the analysis of 75 stomachs with food found 14 food components. Polychaetes of the genus Marphysa (51.75 %), the goby Ilypnus gilberti (31.84 %) and mollusc remains (13.91 %) dominated the diet by the index of relative importance ^[3].

The authors regard it as a carnivorous predator with specialist behaviour on bottom fauna; they note that two sensory barbels on the chin help it obtain food. The diet changed with size, and in September and November it took more polychaetes, which the authors tentatively attribute to a decline in seagrass after a summer in which the lagoon went from 17 °C in January to 27 °C in September ^[3].

According to FishBase, its prey include sand crabs, further small crustaceans and worms, and it is usually found in small groups, while larger fish are more solitary ^[2].

The IUCN assesses Menticirrhus undulatus globally as Data Deficient (DD), in the current assessment of 2020 ^[4].

FishBase considers it a good food fish, common in markets, and lists it among fisheries and game fishes ^[2].

A Mexican study from 2000 notes that it has commercial importance in Baja California Sur ^[3].