Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum

Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum. Fish caught from within Mission Bay  San Diego, California, December 2022. Length: 12.4 cm (4.8 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of  Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum. Fish caught from within Mission Bay, San Diego, California, October 2021. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum. Fish caught off the Pier, Chula Vista, California, April 2008. Length: 22 cm (8.7 inches).

Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of Bahía Kino, Sonora, January 2015. Length: 33 cm (13 inches). Scientifically interesting as this is an extraordinarily elongated fish with a body depth of 28.6%; normal Black Croakers have body depths of 35% to 38%. Photograph courtesy of Maria Johnson, Prescott College Kino Bay Center, Kino Bay, Sonora. Identification reconfirmed by H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, June 2007. Length: 38 cm (15 inches). Identification reconfirmed by H.J. Walker, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California and Milton Love, University of California, Santa Barbara, Goleta, California.

The Black Croaker, Cheilotrema saturnum, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, that is also known as the Chinese Croaker and in Mexico as corvinata negra.  Globally, there are two species in the genus Cheilotrema, of which one is  found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Black Croaker has a high oblong compressed body. Their upper body has a dark gray to purplish black coloration with coppery patches and their belly is silver with dark dots. In freshly collected fish, there is a pale bar mid-body below the first dorsal fin. The upper portion of their gill cover has a wide black band. All their fins are a uniform dark gray color. Their head features an oblique profile, a pointed snout, and a mouth that opens underneath the snout. Their gill cover is finely serrated and they do not have barbels. Their anal fin is short and has 2 spines, the second of which is robust and equal in length to the first anal ray, and 6 or 7 rays; their caudal fin has a straight margin; their first dorsal fin has 10 spines;  their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 25 to 28 rays; and, their pectoral fins are short and do not reach the tip of the pelvic fins. They have 14 to 20 gill rakers. Their body is covered with rough scales.

The Black Croaker is a demersal species that is found over sandy bottoms in open bays, coastal waters, and within caves and crevices at depths up to 100 m (330 feet). They reach a maximum of 45 cm (18 inches) in length. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 0.45 kg (1 lb 0 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Long Beach, California in June 2013. The Black Croaker is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Black Croaker is a resident of Mexican waters of the the Pacific but has a limited distribution being found from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja and in the extreme northern portion of the Sea of Cortez. The collection photographed below, made 40 miles north of Cabo San Lucas in the Pacific, documents the southerly range for this species.

The Black Croaker can be confused with the Spotfin Croaker, Roncador stearnsii (small second anal spine) and the Vacuoqua Croaker, Corvula macrops (gradual head profile; narrow black band on upper half of gill cover).

From a conservation perspective the Black Croaker has not been formally evaluated and is currently considered to be of Data Deficient. They are retained by subsistence fishermen and a small component of the California pier fishery.