Eastern Pacific Flagfin, Aulopus bajacali
Eastern Pacific Flagfin, Aulopus bajacali, Female. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, June 2015. Length: 16.5 cm (6.5 inches).
Eastern Pacific Flagfin, Aulopus bajacali, Female. Fish caught off the Gordo I Bank, Baja California Sur, January 2008. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Fish identification courtesy of Dr. Ross Robertson, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.
Eastern Pacific Flagfin, Aulopus bajacali, Male. Fish caught out of coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, June 2015. Length: 13.0 cm (5.1 inches).
The Eastern Pacific Flagfin, Aulopus bajacali, is a member of the Flagfin or Aulopidae Family, and is known in Mexico as lagato del Pacifico oriental. Globally, there are seven species in the genus Aulopus, with one being found in Mexican waters, this species in the Pacific Ocean. First reported in the scientific literature in 1984, the Eastern Pacific Flagfin is extremely rare, only found around the tip of Baja (i.e. a bajacali), and seldom seen by humans.
The Eastern Pacific Flagfin has a slender cylindrical body. They are overall brown in color and transition to lighter brown ventrally. They have four dark saddles on their upper body with irregular blotches between the saddles on their sides. Their head has dark blotches with a large dark blotch on the upper half of their gill cover. Their lower body has tinges of yellow. They are sexually dimorphic with females having a wide red band across the middle of their dorsal fin; males have a red-tipped dorsal fin with spines 2 to 4 being very long. Their head has a pointed conical snout, a large mouth that opens at the front and ends under the eyes, and very large horizontal elliptical eyes. Their anal fin has 10 to 13 rays; their caudal fin is deeply forked; their first dorsal fin as 14 to 17 rays and is high and originates over the pelvic fins; their second dorsal fin is a skin flap with a short base; their pectoral fins have 12 to 14 rays and are found mid-side; and, their pelvic fins are short not reaching the anus and found behind the pectoral fins. They have 13 to 16 gill rakers. They are covered with spiny and smooth scales.
The Eastern Pacific Flagfin is found at depths between 82 m (270 feet) and 514 m (1,685 feet) in sandy and muddy bottoms adjacent to heavy rock structures. They reach a maximum of 31 cm (12 inches) in length. The Eastern Pacific Flagfin 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 Eastern Pacific Flagfin is found in Mexican waters of the Pacific but has a very limited distribution being found in coastal waters of Baja California Sur from Alijos Rocks (24o57’N, 115o45’W) and at the Uncle Sam Bank (25º34’N, 113o45’W) to at least 30 miles into the Sea of Cortez (Gordo I, 23.01oN, 109.31oW). In October 2017, I caught one in coastal waters off Loreto (25.99oN, 11.35oW) extending the known range of this species well into the Sea of Cortez.
The Eastern Pacific Flagfin can be confused with a series of Lizardfishes including the Calico Lizardfish, Synodus lacertinus, the Iguana Lizardfish, Synodus sechurae, and the Spotted Lizardfish, Synodus evermanni; each have dorsal and adipose fins originating further back in the body.
From a conservation perpsective the Eastern Pacific Flagfin has not been formally evaluated. They are exceedingly rare, small in stature, and of limited interest to most.