Yellowfin croaker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Yellowfin croaker |
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The yellowfin croaker (Umbrina roncador) is a type of fish called a croaker. You can find them in the waters from the Gulf of California in Mexico all the way up to Point Conception, California. These fish like to live in bays, channels, harbors, and other shallow areas close to shore where the bottom is sandy.
Yellowfin croakers are more common near beaches in the summer. When winter comes, they might move to deeper water. There is no specific size limit for catching them. People also call them the yellowfin drum, Catalina croaker, yellowtailed croaker, or golden croaker.
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What Does a Yellowfin Croaker Look Like?
The yellowfin croaker has a body shape that is long and oval, with a slightly curved back. Its head is rounded and not pointy. The fish's color is a shiny blue to gray, with hints of brassy gold on its back. This color fades to a silvery white on its belly.
You can see many dark, wavy lines going across its sides and back. All of its fins are yellowish, except for the dark dorsal fins on its back. A special feature of the yellowfin croaker is a single fleshy bump, called a barbel, on its lower jaw. It also has two strong spines at the front of its anal fin. These features help tell it apart from other croakers in California.
What Do Yellowfin Croakers Eat?
Yellowfin croakers mostly eat small fish and young fish. But they also enjoy eating many small creatures without backbones, like tiny crustaceans (such as crabs), worms, and mollusks (like clams).
Yellowfin Croaker Life Cycle
Yellowfin croakers usually lay their eggs during the summer months. This is when you can find the most of them along sandy beaches. They don't seem to be ready to reproduce until they are a little over 9 inches long. The biggest yellowfin croaker ever recorded was about 20 inches long. While its weight wasn't noted, an 18-inch yellowfin croaker weighed about 4.5 pounds.
How to Catch a Yellowfin Croaker
People who fish from the beach (called surf anglers) often catch yellowfin croakers. They use different kinds of bait like soft-shelled sand crabs, worms, mussels, clams, special soft plastic baits called Gulp!, or pieces of cut fish. These fish are most commonly caught between Ventura County in California and the central part of Baja California in Mexico.
See also
- Umbrina cirrosa, a similar fish found in Europe
