The queenfish (''Seriphus politus'') is a species of fish in the family

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae are a family of fish in the order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family consists of about 286 to 298 species in about 66 to 70 gen ...

, the drums and croakers. It is native to the eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, where it occurs along the North American coastline from

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

; it has been recorded as far north as

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds
''Seriphus politus''.
FishBase. 2017. Its centre of distribution is the

Southern California Bight The Southern California Bight is a 692-kilometer-long (430 mi) stretch of curved coastline that runs along the west coast of the United States and Mexico, from Point Conception in California to Punta Colonet in Baja California, plus the area of t ...

.DeMartini, E. E., et al. (1985)
Diel and depth variations in the sex-specific abundance, size composition, and food habits of queenfish, ''Seriphus politus'' (Sciaenidae).
NOAA Fishery Bulletin 83, no. 2. 171-85. It is also known commonly as the queen croaker.Chao, L. & Espinosa, H. 2010
''Seriphus politus''.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010. Downloaded on 29 September 2017. This is the only species in the

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

''Seriphus''.

Description

This species is up to 30 centimetres long. It has an elongated, compressed body. It is blue-grey to tan in colour with a shiny silver belly and a dark horizontal line running the length of the body. The pectoral fin is dark and the other fins are yellowish. The mouth contains one or two rows of pointed teeth.''Seriphus politus''.
Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Biology

This marine fish occurs in coastal waters, such as bays and

sloughs A slough ( or ) is a wetland, usually a swamp or shallow lake, often a backwater to a larger body of water. Water tends to be stagnant or may flow slowly on a seasonal basis. In North America, "slough" may refer to a side-channel from or feedi ...

, moving to deeper waters at night. It feeds on marine invertebrates and small fish. It eats

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

ic crustaceans such as

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s when it is a juvenile. Adults also feed on

Californian anchovy The Californian anchovy or northern anchovy (''Engraulis mordax'') is a species of anchovy found in the Pacific Ocean, ranging from Mexico to British Columbia. Relationship with humans Commercial fishing As sardine populations declined in the Pa ...

(''Engraulis mordax''). This species forms schools. It is prey for many kinds of larger fish, such as

kelp bass ''Paralabrax clathratus'', the kelp bass, bull bass or calico bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the subfamily Serraninae, classified as part of the family Serranidae which includes the groupers and anthias. It is found ...

(''Paralabrax clathratus'').

Conservation

Little population information is available for this species, but it is not considered to be threatened. This is a common

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

catch on Southern California fishing piers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1796044 Sciaenidae Western North American coastal fauna Fish described in 1860