Chaetodipterus zonatus
Pacific Spadefish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Ephippidae (Spadefishes)
Chaetodipterus
Chaetodipterus zonatus (Pacific Spadefish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: short and / or deep. Body very deep and compressed; head short, with a slopping, slightly concave profile; mouth small and terminal; snout blunt and not at all prominent; posterior end of jaw not surpassing anterior rim of eye; branchiostegal membranes joined to isthmus; dorsal fin spines well developed (Ref. 55763).
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: San Diego, California, USA to Peru.
Habitat Associations
Marine. reef-associated. depth range 3-50 m. Found in: coral reefs.
Biology
Found in inshore areas with sandy bottoms or coral reefs, forming small schools (Ref. 9299). Feeds on benthic invertebrates (Ref. 37955). Minimum depth reported from Ref. 2850.
Max length: 65.0 cm TL; common length: 25.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2008-05-02. Resilience: Low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Fitch, J.E. and R.J. Lavenberg (1975) Tidepool and nearshore fishes of California. California Natural History Guides:38. University of California Press, Berkelley and Los Angeles, California. 156 p.
De la Cruz Agüero, J., M. Arellano Martínez, V.M. Cota Gómez and G. de la Cruz-Agüero (1997) Catalogo de los peces marinos de Baja California Sur. IPN-CICIMAR, La Paz, Mexico. P. 346.
López-Peralta, R.H. and C.A.T. Arcila (2002) Diet composition of fish species form the southern continental shelf of Colombia. Naga, WorldFish Center Q. 25(3-4):23-29.
Jiménez Prado, P. and P. Béarez (2004) Peces Marinos del Ecuador continental. Tomo 2: Guía de Especies / Marine fishes of continental Ecuador. Volume 2: Species Guide. SIMBIOE/NAZCA/IFEA.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Comments On Chaetodipterus zonatus