California corbina
species of fish
The California corbina (Menticirrhus undulatus), is a marine demersal fish in the croaker family. It can often be found along sandy beaches and in shallow bays. This species travels in small groups along the surf zone in a few inches of water to depths of 20 meters (66 ft). Other names include "California kingcroaker", "California whiting", and "kingfish".
Description
California corbina are uniformly grey in color with some iridescence and have an elongated and slightly compressed body shape in comparison to other croakers. Like all members of the genus Menticirrhus, the California corbina lacks a swim bladder but is able to produce a croaking sound. It is believed that the loss of the swim bladder evolved to facilitate living in a turbulent environment. This species and the yellowfin croaker are the only two of the eight coastal croakers found in California waters to exhibit a single barbel on the lower jaw. The California corbina's barbel is short and stiff and is used to detect prey. The upper half of the caudal fin has a concave trailing edge, while the lower half trailing edge is convex.
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This entry incorporates text from “California corbina” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.