Species Fact Profile: California Sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher)

                                                              California Sheephead

                                                       Semicossyphus pulcher (Ayres, 1854)

Range: Eastern Pacific, from central California to Central Mexico

Habitat:  Rocky Reefs and Kelp Beds, 6-30 meters deep

Diet: Sea Urchins, Mollusks, Crustaceans

Social Grouping:  Overlapping home ranges, may forage alone or in schools

Reproduction: Male maintains and defends a harem of females.  Eggs and sperm released into water column.  Fertilized eggs are released into the water.  Female may spawn 80 times per year and can produce nearly 300,000 eggs per breeding season.  Young start their lives as plankton.  Protogynous hermaphrodites - all individuals of the species start their lives as females, then the larger fish change into males when they grow to about 45 centimeters long (transition is caused by hormonal changes caused by social cues)

Lifespan: 20 Years (can leave over 50 Years)

      Conservation Status: IUCN Vulnerable

• Grow up to 90 centimeters long and can weigh up to 16 kilograms.  Males are larger than females
• Males are black on the head and tail with a wide reddish-orange midsection, red eyes.  The forehead has a prominent fleshy bump.  Females are silver or dull pink, white on the underside.  Both sexes have white chins and large, protruding teeth.  Juveniles are reddish-orange all over
• Frequent daily movements between refugia, such as kelp forests and reefs, and open waters, which provide better feeding and breeding opportunities but which leave the fish more vulnerable to predators.  Males may become more aggressive and territorial towards one another throughout the day as they approach their preferred spawning time at sunset
• Large canine teeth are used to pry invertebrates from rocks, while a plate in the throat crushes shells, separated meat from shell
• If seized and injured by a predator, a sheephead will release chemicals into the water that alert other sheepheads that a predator is near
• Most significant predators are California sea lion and harbor seal, as well as larger fish, such as giant sea bass.  Smaller individuals may be preyed upon by seabirds
• Commercial fishery has been open since the late 1800s, still sought commercially and popular with sports fishers.  The life cycle of this fish is challenged due to the minimum size limits set by authorities; since males are larger than females, a skewed sex ratio has resulted with fewer males (removal of the larger males then triggers the largest females to transition, depriving the population of their eggs)
• Economically and ecologically valuable for their role in controlling numbers of sea urchins, which would otherwise overgraze kelp forests and deprive other species of their habitat