Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes, Juvenile. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of Bahía Kino, Sonora, March 2015. Length: 22 cm (8.7 inches). Note the unusual strongly serrated gill cover in the photo above. Photograph courtesy of Maria Johnson, Prescott College Kino Bay Center, Kino Bay, Sonora.

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes.  Fish caught off the dock of the Old Mazatlán Marina, Sinaloa, October 2017. Length: 25 cm (10 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes.  Fish caught by commercial fishermen from coastal waters within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, May 2018. Length: 26 cm (10 inches).

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes. Fish caught from coastal waters of Gonzaga Bay, Baja California, April 2018. Length: 27 cm (11 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes. Fish caught within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur,  October 2018. Length: 28 cm (11 inches).

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2021. Length: 30 cm (12 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Bart, The Netherlands  (worldangler.eu).

Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, June 2013. Length: 64 cm (25 inches); weight: 6.4 kg (14 lbs). Photograph courtesy of Jason Potts, Mazatlán. Identification courtesy of H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, and based on the dorsal fin ray counts in the photo above.

The Slender Croaker, Micropogonias ectenes, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, that is also known as the Slender Kingfish and Mexico as chano Mexicano. There are six global members of the genus Micropogonias, of which three are found Mexican waters, all in the Pacific Ocean.

The Slender Croaker has an elongated moderately compressed body. They have a silvery coloration with a brassy hue; their upper sides have dark oblique steaks that extend upwards and backwards along the scale rows. Their fins are transparent and similar in color to the body of the fish. Their head has a prominent snout, a small mouth with thin lips and simple teeth, moderately-sized eyes, 4 small barbels along the inner side of the lower jaw, and a strong serrated gill cover with two prominent spines. Their anal fin has 2 spines, the second being robust and approximately three-fourths the length of the first anal ray, and 7 or 8 rays; their caudal fin has a short blunt point with a slightly concave upper lobe; their first dorsal fin has 10 spines and is high reaching the origin of the second dorsal fin when depressed; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 23 to 26 rays. They have 22 or 24 gill rakers. Their body is covered with large scales.

The Slender Croaker is a benthopelagic species found along sandy shores and in bays, estuaries, and lagoons at depths up to 34 m (110 feet). They reach a maximum of 40 cm (16 inches) in length, established by the fish photographed above. They are voracious ambush predators feeding on small fish and squid. The Slender 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.

Although reported to be widespread in the Eastern Pacific the Slender Croaker has a limited distribution in Mexican waters being found from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, southward along the southwest coast of Baja, in the southern three-fourths of the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala.

The Slender Croaker can be confused with the Golden Croaker, Micropogonias altipinnis (19 to 23 dorsal rays; yellow fins; maximum length 80 cm), the Gulf Corvina, Cynoscion othonopterus (10 or 11 anal fin rays; 23 to 27 dorsal rays; long pectoral fins), and the Gulf Croaker, Micropogonias megalops (27 to 29 dorsal rays; dark fins; maximum length 40 cm).

From a conservation perspective the Slender Croaker is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are targeted by commercial fishermen being caught primarily with trawls and seines and sold fresh in local markets. They are considered to be an esteemed food fish.