Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani
Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal tidal pools on Los Conchas Beach, Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, November 2022. Length: 7.5 cm (3.0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani, Juvenile. Fish caught with a cast net out of the San José Estuary, Baja California Sur, April 2018. Length: 7.8 cm (3.1 inches).
Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani. Fish provided by the commercial bait salesmen of Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, February 2021. Length: 13.7 cm (5.4 inches). Nice illustration of the protrusible mouth of this species.
Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, November 2020. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.
Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani. Fish caught off the beach at El Tule, Km 15, Baja California Sur, January 2015. Length: 19.8 cm (7.8 inches).
The Pacific Flagfin Mojarra, Eucinostomus currani, is a member of the Mojarra or Gerreidae Family, and is known in Mexico as mojarra canalera and mojarra tricolor. Globally, there are eleven species in the genus Eucinostomus, and all eleven are found in Mexican waters, seven in the Atlantic and four in the Pacific Ocean.
The Pacific Flagfin Mojarra has an elongated oval bodies with a depth that is 40% to 45% of standard length. They are silvery white in color and the tip of their spiny dorsal fin has a wide black tip, a key to identification. They have no additional distinguishing marks. Their head has concave upper and lower profiles with a pointed snout and their mouth is highly extensible, pointing downward when protruded. They have smooth gill covers. Their anal fin has 3 slender spines and 7 rays with the second spine being short; their caudal fin is deeply forked; their dorsal fin is elevated at the front and has 9 spines and 10 rays; and. their pectoral fins are short and pointed and do not reach the anal fin origin. Their lateral line is slightly arched. Their head and body are covered with rough scales.
The Pacific Flagfin Mojarra is a shallow-water coastal schooling species that can also be found in mangrove estuaries and fresh water lagoons at depths up to 100 m (330 feet). They have a maximum length of 23 cm (9.1 inches). They are omnivores that consume vegetable matter, micro-invertebrates and detritus. The Pacific Flagfin Mojarra 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 Pacific Flagfin Mojarra is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The Pacific Flagfin Mojarra is most likely confused with the Golden Mojarra, Diapterus aureolus (wider and rounder body; margin of gill cover serrated).
From a conservation perspective the Pacific Flagfin Mojarra is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and rare and of interest to most.
NOTE. There are eighteen members of the Mojarra or Gerreidae Family currently Included in this website, ten are from Mexican waters of the Pacific and eight from the Atlantic. They are all very similar in appearance and difficult to identify. As an aide to this challenge I have assembled a Mojarra Body Depth Chart that presents these seventeen mojarras from thin bodied to deep bodied which is useful in identification work. In addition, I have also assembled a Mojarra Maximum Length Chart which I have also helpful in the identification work for these eighteen mojarras. Both charts can be found at the end of the Mojarra Family Page.