Synodus foetens
Inshore Lizardfish
NS
G5
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Aulopiformes
Synodontidae (Lizardfishes)
Synodus
Synodus foetens (Inshore Lizardfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
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
Moderately elongate, moderately slender, and cylindrical, with a short dorsal fin and a large oblique mouth. Snout is conical and slightly longer than eye diameter. Body depth is 9.8% to 14.4%, head length is 20.6% to 26.3%, and snout length is 4.4% to 8% of SL. Upper jaw extends beyond lower jaw. Lower jaw has a fleshy tip. Teeth in jaws are compressed, pointed, and in narrow band, with inner teeth largest and depressible. Palatine has single row of teeth. Tongue has depressible teeth. Branchiostegal rays number 12 to 18. Pectoral fin has 12 to 15 rays, and when depressed, tips of rays usually fail to reach pelvic fin insertion. Dorsal fin has 10 to 13 rays, and when depressed, tips of anterior rays extend beyond some or all of succeeding rays. Pelvic fin has 8 rays, and medial rays are longest. Anal fin has 10 to 14 rays, and base is usually longer than dorsal fin base. Dorsal adipose fin is present. Scales occur on cheeks, gill covers, body, and base of caudal fin. Lateral line scales number 56 to 65 and are not enlarged but are keeled on caudal peduncle. Enlarged axillary scales are present at bases of pectoral and pelvic fins.
Color is grayish on head and upper trunk, with about eight faint diamond-shaped blotches on side of some specimens. Belly is white. Larvae and postlarvae have 6 large, evenly spaced peritoneal sections along side of belly anterior to anal fin and about 13 small spots along anal fin base.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from the coast of Massachusetts to the Florida Keys
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Occurs on the bottom from near shore to 183 m, most common in shallow water, along beaches, in lagoons and estuaries
Biology
Food consists of a wide variety of fishes
Maximum known size is 405 mm SL
Adults are found on both shallow and deep sand flats among grass (Ref. 12342, 39154, 39155), inshore in saltwater creeks, rivers, bays, sounds (Ref. 39156), and deep channels within lagoons (Ref. 39155). Probably more dense over mud than shell or calcareous bottom (Ref. 39157). Also found in open ocean over continental shelf (Ref. 4639). A solitary (Ref. 26340) voracious predator that lurks in shallow bays and shore waters; burrows in bottom sediments. Juveniles are pelagic, and readily collected from open ocean, usually near land in vicinity of or in shallow water (Ref. 4639). Mostly piscivorous, also includes shrimps, crabs and cephalopodes (Ref. 93252). Oviparous, newly hatched larvae are found near the surface at depths from 27 to 46 m (Ref. 39159). Salinity range 4.0-60.0 ppt (may include juveniles), more abundant above 10.0 ppt and 30.0 ppt (Ref. 39158, 39162, 39050). Commonly caught by anglers but considered a nuisance.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; gamefish.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Gunter 1945
Anderson et al. 1966
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
Hoese and Moore 1977
Castro-Aguirre and Marquez-Espinoza 1981
Uyeno et al. 1983
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Jones, P.W., F.D. Martin and J.D. Hardy Jr. (1978) Development of fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. An atlas of eggs, larval and juvenile stages. Vol. 1. Acipenseridae through Ictaluridae. U.S. Fish Wildl. Ser. Biol. Serv. Program FWS/OBS-78/12. 336 p.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
Dias, J.F., W.S. Fernandez and T.C.S. Schmidt (2014) Length-weight relationship of 73 fish species caught in the southeastern inner continental shelf region of Brazil. Lat. Am. J. Aquat. Res. 42(1):127-136. DOI: 10.3856/vol42-issue1-fulltext-10
Comments On Synodus foetens