Trachinotus rhodopus
Gafftopsail Pompano
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Carangidae (Jacks)
Trachinotus
Trachinotus rhodopus (Gafftopsail Pompano)
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.)
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Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal. Body deep (becoming deeper with age) and compressed; mouth small; jaw teeth small, villiform, and only slightly hooked; decreasing in number with age but always present; lower branch of first gill arch with 13 to 15 gill rakers; dorsal fin with 6 spines followed by another spine and 19 to 21 soft rays (VI+I, 19-21); anterior lobes of the second dorsal and anal fins elongated; body silvery with 4 to 6 pale yellow vertical bars that become dark after death; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins yellowish (Ref. 55763).
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Zuma Beach in southern California, USA to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands.
Habitat Associations
Marine. reef-associated. Found in: coral reefs.
Biology
Adults inhabit inshore sandy areas and also clear waters around reefs and rocky areas (Ref. 9283). They feed on small invertebrates and fishes (Ref. 9283). Marketed fresh and salted or dried (Ref. 9283).
Max length: 61.0 cm TL; common length: 25.0 cm TL; max weight: 1300 g.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-02-04. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish.
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.
Grove, J.S. and R.J. Lavenberg (1997) The fishes of the Galápagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 863 p.
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.
Gross, M.R. and R. Shine (1981) Parental care and mode of fertilization in ectothermic vertebrates. Evolution 35(4):775-793.
Comments On Trachinotus rhodopus