Blackbelly Eelpout, Lycodes pacificus

Blackbelly Eelpout, Lycodes pacificus. Fish caught from a pier in Port Alberni, British Columbia, August 2021. Length: 22 cm (8.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Blackbelly Eelpout, Lycodes pacificus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Half Moon Bay, California, July 2012. Length: 28 cm (11 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

The Blackbelly Eelpout, Lycodes pacificus, is a member of the Eelpouts or Zoarcidae Family, that is known in Mexico as viruela panza negra. Globally, the Lycodes Family has sixty-four known species with only this species found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Blackbelly Eelpout has an elongated eel-like body that gradually tapers to the caudal fin. They are gray to blackish-brown in color with a blackbelly and a black spot and the front of the dorsal fin. Their head has a bluntly rounded short snout with large eyes set on top. Their anal fin is long with 70 to 90 rays; the caudal fin tapers gradually to a small point and is sharply rounded and continuous with the anal and dorsal fins; their dorsal fin is long with 90 to 107 rays; their pectoral fins are large with 16 to 19 rays; and, their pelvic fins are minute with three rays. They are sexually dimorphic with males having larger mouths than females, grow faster and attain larger sizes. They have 8 to 12 gill rakers.

The Blackbelly Eelpout is found over and within silty and sandy substrate from depths between 7 m (23 feet) and 1,036 m (3,400 feet). They reach a maximum of 46 cm (18 inches) in length. They migrate to shallow water at night to feed on brittle stars, small bivalves and crustaceans. In turn they are preyed upon by various fishes and sea mammals. Reproduction is oviparous with each female producing between 7 and 52 eggs. They have life spans of up to five years. The Blackbelly Eelpout 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 Blackbelly Eelpout is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Ensenada, Baja California, northward along the northwest coast of Baja.

The Blackbelly Eelpout can be confused with the Bearded Eelpout, Lyconema barbatus (cirri under the jaw), the Soft Eelpout, Bothrocara molle (anal and dorsal fins with black margins), and the Twoline Eelpout, Bathrocara brunneum (18 to 19 gill rakers).

From a conservation perspective the Blackbelly Eelpout has not yet been formally evaluated. They are relatively small in stature and of limited interest to most. They are utilized on a limited basis as a live bait for cods, greenlings, and rockfish. They are caught, retained and consumed by subsistence fishermen. They have been dated to 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 years ago.