Spotted Cusk-eel, Chilara taylori

Spotted Cusk Eel, Chilara taylori. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Loma, California, April 2008. Length: 25 cm (9.8 inches). Catch courtesy of Eddie Kisfaludy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California. Fish identification courtesy of H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

Spotted Cusk-eel, Chilara taylori. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, June 2013. Length: 33 cm (13 inches). Tail 62%.

The Spotted Cusk-eel, Chilara taylori, is a member of the Cusk Eel or Ophidiidae Family, that is known in Mexico as congriperla moteada. This fish is the only global species in the genus Chilara, and it is found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Spotted Cusk-eel has an elongated compressed body that tapers to a point at the rear – a top scientist even described them as resembling a letter opener. They are a uniform creamy brown color and their head and body are covered with large dark spots that form three or four rows along the body. Their anal and dorsal fins have black margins. Their head and overhanging snout are rounded and their mouth and eyes are medium-sized. Their anal and dorsal fin bases are long and continuous with their pointed caudal fin; their dorsal fin is longer and originates before the anal fin, and their pelvic fins each have a pair of small threads of unequal length inserted under the eyes. They lack the strong snout spine that is found in most other Cusk-eels. Their body is covered with small round scales.

The Spotted Cusk-eel is a demersal species that is found within and over sandy and muddy bottoms at depths up to 730 m (2,400 feet). They reach a maximum of 40 cm (16 inches) in length. They hide in burrows that they enter tail first and in caves during the daytime and only emerge at night to feed on crustaceans, small clams, polychaete worms, and other invertebrates. In turn, they are preyed upon by gulls, porpoises, and seals. The Spotted Cusk-eel 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 Spotted Cusk-eel is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found only along the west coast of Baja from Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, northward along the southwest, central, and northwest coasts of Baja with the fish pictured above establishing the southerly range for this species.

The Spotted Cusk-eel ls most likely confused with the Leopard Cusk-eel, Lepophidium pardale (large black blotches) and the Spotfin Cusk-eel, Ophidion galeoides (broken brown stripe along lateral line; dark blotch at front of dorsal fin).

From a conservation perspective the Spotted Cusk-eel is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are caught primarily as a by-catch of deep water trawlers and by hook and line by commercial fishermen along the southwest and central coasts of the Baja, but are too rare and too small to be of commercial interest. They are seldom seen by humans and are of limited interest to most. Fossil remains of the Spotted Cusk-eel were found in Southern California indicative that this species has been present since the Pliocene Epoch, 1,800,000 to 5,300,000 years ago.