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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Hyporhamphus rosae

California Halfbeak
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Beloniformes Hemiramphidae (Halfbeaks) Hyporhamphus Hyporhamphus rosae (California Halfbeak)

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. Branchiostegal rays: 10-12 (Ref. 36576). Striking features: striking type of mouth.

Distribution

Eastern Pacific: Santa Ana in southern California, USA to Costa Rica. Range extends to Panama (Ref. 36576). Reported from Peru and Galapagos Islands (Ref. 5530).

Habitat Associations

Freshwater, brackish, marine. pelagic-neritic.

Biology

Adults are found near shore, frequently in coastal bays at or near the surface. Often form small schools. Occasionally penetrate fresh waters (Ref. 9306). Presumably oviparous, with planktonic larvae (Ref. 36576). Eggs are attached to spawning substrate via filaments (Ref. 36576).
Max length: 15.0 cm TL; common length: 9.0 cm SL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders. Oviparous (Ref. 36576).
IUCN Red List Status: Data Deficient (DD), assessed 2018-12-06. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

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.
Watson, W. (1996) Hemiramphidae: halfbeaks. p. 634-641. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 1505 p.

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