Señorita, Oxyjulis californica

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Diego, California, August 2018. Length: 12.2 cm (4.8 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Diego, California, August 2018. Length: 12.2 cm (4.8 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Beach, California, August 2016. Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Beach, California, October 2015. Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Beach, California, November 2013. Length: 13 cm (5.1 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.word-press.com).

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Diego, California, August 2018. Length: 19 cm (7.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Señorita, Oxyjulis californica. Underwater photograph taken within Mission Bay, San Diego, California, March 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

The Señorita, Oxyjulis californica, is a member of the Wrasse or Labridae Family, and is known in Mexico as señorita californiana. Globally, there is only one species in the genus Oxyjulis, this fish which is found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Señorita has an elongated fusiform cigar-shaped body with a depth that is 15% to 19% of standard length. They are overall tannish-brown in color being shiny bronze dorsally, orange on their sides, and white ventrally. Some fish are almost entirely yellow dorsally transitioning to white ventrally. Their caudal fin base has a large black vertical stripe allowing easy identification. Their mouth is small and opens at the front with protruding canine teeth. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 13 rays; and, their dorsal fin has 9 or 10 spines and 13 rays. They have 18 to 21 gill rakers. Their body is covered with large scales.

The  is a coastal resident found demersal within kelp and other seaweed and over rocky structures from the intertidal zone to depths up to 100 m (330 feet). They reach a maximum of 25 cm (10 inches) in length. They are a common species within their known range and form small groups with defined home habitats. They feed diurnally on a variety of small invertebrates including bryozoans, crustaceans, dove snails, fish larvae, limpets, squids, and worms as well as seaweed which comprises about half their diet. They are also “cleaner fish” feeding on ectoparasites (bacteria, copepods, and isopods) found on other fish such as bat rays, blacksmiths, garibaldis, halfmoons, kelp bass, jacksmelts, opaleyes, molas, sargos, and topsmelts. They are preyed upon by bocaccios, kelp bass, starry rockfish as well as Brandt’s cormorants and California sea lions. Reproduction has not been well studied so far; some believe they do not change sex while others consider them protogynous hermaphrodites. Their eggs are pelagic and float suspended in water. The Señorita 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 Señoritas is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Cedros Island, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

The Señorita is an easy fish to identify due to its extremely elongated body and prominent black stripe at its caudal fin base that cannot be confused with any other species.

From a conservation perspective the Señorita is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. The long-term survival of this species is based on the preservation of kelp forests, however, these are rapidly disappearing due to overfishing of lobsters, sheepheads, and urchins which are all predators of the purple sea urchin. As a consequence of the recent rapid explosion of purple sea urchin populations, kelp forests have been devastated due to overgrazing. They are exceptional at bait stealing and considered to be a pest and retained only by subsistence fishermen. They can be found in larger public aquariums that have kelp forest exhibits.