The queenfish (''Seriphus politus'') is a species of fish in the family

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the Order (biology), order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family co ...

, the drums and croakers. It is native to the eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, where it occurs along the North American coastline from

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

; it has been recorded as far north as

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds
''Seriphus politus''.
FishBase. 2017. Its centre of distribution is the

Southern California Bight The Southern California Bight is a 692-kilometer-long (430 mi) stretch of curved coastline that runs along the West Coast of the United States and Mexico, from Point Conception in California to Punta Colonet in Baja California, plus the area of t ...

.DeMartini, E. E., et al. (1985)
Diel and depth variations in the sex-specific abundance, size composition, and food habits of queenfish, ''Seriphus politus'' (Sciaenidae).
NOAA Fishery Bulletin 83, no. 2. 171-85. It is also known commonly as the queen croaker. This is the only species in the

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

''Seriphus''. A fossil relative, '' S. lavenbergi'', is known from the Late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

-aged

Puente Formation The Puente Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in California. It preserves fossils dating back to the middle to upper Miocene epoch of the Neogene Period (geology), period, most of which were deposited in a deepwater environment ...

of the

Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...

Description

This species is up to long. It has an elongated, compressed body. It is blue-grey to tan in colour with a shiny silver belly and a dark horizontal line running the length of the body. The pectoral fin is dark and the other fins are yellowish. The mouth contains one or two rows of pointed teeth.

Biology

This marine fish occurs in coastal waters, such as bays and

sloughs A slough ( or ) is a wetland, usually a swamp or shallow lake, often a Backwater (river), backwater to a larger body of water. Water tends to be Water stagnation, stagnant or may flow slowly on a seasonal basis. In North America, "slough" may re ...

, moving to deeper waters at night. It feeds on marine invertebrates and small fish. It eats

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

ic crustaceans such as

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s when it is a juvenile. Adults also feed on

Californian anchovy The Californian anchovy or northern anchovy (''Engraulis mordax'') is a species of anchovy found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Mexico to British Columbia. It is a small, Clupeiformes, Clupeoid fish with a large mouth and a long, late ...

(''Engraulis mordax''). This species forms schools. It is prey for many kinds of larger fish, such as

kelp bass ''Paralabrax clathratus'', the kelp bass, bull bass or calico bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, from the subfamily Serraninae, classified as part of the family Serranidae which includes the groupers and anthias. It is found in the ea ...

(''Paralabrax clathratus'').

Conservation

Little population information is available for this species, but it is not considered to be threatened. This is a common

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, ...

catch on Southern California fishing piers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1796044 Sciaenidae Western North American coastal fauna Fish described in 1860