''Citharichthys stigmaeus'', the speckled sanddab, is a species of flounder in the genus '' Citharichthys''. 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 contin ...

, ranging from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

in the north to

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 ...

, Mexico in the south. It is a much smaller cousin of the Pacific sanddab (''C. sordidus''), growing to a maximum of in length. It can be found on the sandy bottom near the shore to as far out as . It is a dull brown or tan colour, with a white or pale brown underside. Males are often mottled with orange spots. While ''Citharichthys stigmaeus'' is technically a game fish, it is of little commercial importance due to its diminutive size, and the larger Pacific sanddab is readily available. The species has a high rate of reproduction, and coupled with the minimal threat from fishing means that it is abundant along the entire North American coast. ''Citharichthys stigmaeus'' eats small crustaceans and its predators are fish, birds and marine mammals. The fish can camouflage itself by adapting to look like the surface it is on. Speckled Sanddabs CAS 1

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1972940 Citharichthys Western North American coastal fauna Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area Fish described in 1882 Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert