Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda

Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda. Fish caught out of coastal waters off Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, September 2004. Length: 18.0 cm (7.1 inches).

Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda. Fish caught off the beach, Cabo Real, Baja California Sur, March 2018. Length: 24 cm (9.4 inches).

Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda. Fish caught from coastal waters off Acapulco, Guerrero, February 2017. Length: 25 cm (10 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of Ben Cantrell, Peoria, Illinois.

Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, March 2018. Photographs courtesy of Ron Woheau, Zihuantanejo.

Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda. Underwater photographs taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, March 2018. Photographs courtesy of Maude Jette, Dive Zihuantanejo,   www.Divezihuatanejo.com.

The Spottail Grunt, Haemulon maculicauda, is a member of the Grunt or Haemulidae Family, and is known in Mexico as burro raposo. Globally, there are twenty-one species in the genus Haemulon, and all twenty-one are found in Mexican waters, fourteen in the Atlantic and seven in the Pacific Ocean.

The Spottail Grunt has a longer and thinner body than most Grunts with a depth that is 32% to 34% of standard length. They have an overall gray appearance and are characterized by a large black spot or blotch at the base of their caudal fin, after which they are named. Their mouths have a red interior. They have scale rows with white centers that run parallel along their sides giving the appearance of white rows on their sides. All their fins are dark. Juveniles have a dark mid-lateral stripe and a black spot at the base of their caudal fin.This fish are abundant in in-shore waters and can also be caught at depths up to 34 m (110 feet). I have observed that fish coming out of deeper waters have significantly dark tail spotting than inshore fish (as seen photographs above). Their mouths are oblique and extends to the eyes. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 8 to 11 rays; and their caudal fin is forked; their dorsal fin is continuous with 12 to 14 spines, a modest notch, and 15 to 18 rays. They have 22 to 29 gill rakers. They are covered with scales.

The Spottail Grunt is found inshore around coral and rocky reefs at depths up to 34 m (110 feet). They reach a maximum of 30 cm (12 inches) in length and 1.0 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) in weight. They are nocturnal feeders. The Spottail Grunt 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 Spottail Grunt is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coast of Baja.

The Spottail Grunt can be confused with the Latin Grunt, Haemulon steindachneri (yellow fins) and the Mojarra Grunt, Haemulon scudderi (overall gray appearance; no spot on base of caudal fin; yellow fins).

From a conservation perspective the Spottail Grunt is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are too small to be of interest to most.  They can be caught off the beach with some frequency in certain locations and certain times of the year.