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Gillichthys mirabilis

Longjaw Mudsucker
NS G5
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) Gobiidae (Gobies) Gillichthys Gillichthys mirabilis (Longjaw Mudsucker)

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: elongated.

Distribution

Eastern Pacific: California, northern to central Gulf of California.

Habitat Associations

Brackish, marine. demersal.

Biology

Inhabits tidal flats, bays and coastal sloughs. Prefers mud bottom in shallow water. Non-emerging air-breather (Ref. 31184). Oviparous (Ref. 56079). Males guard the eggs which are found attached to the walls of brood chamber (Ref. 56079).
Max length: 21.0 cm TL; common length: 13.0 cm TL; max age: 2 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; guarders (nesters). Female lays several thousand club-shaped eggs in nest built by male. Male guards eggs during 10-12 day incubation.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-02-13. Resilience: High (tmax=2;).

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.
Patzner, R.A., J.L. Van Tassell, M. Kovačić and B.G. Kapoor (2011) The biology of gobies. Enfield, NH : Science Publishers ; Boca Raton, FL : DIstributed by CRC Press, 685 p.
Love, M.S., C.W. Mecklenburg, T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson (2005) Resource inventory of marine and estuarine fishes of the West Coast and Alaska: A checklist of North Pacific and Arctic Ocean species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104.

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