Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi, Juvenile. Fish caught with a cast net off a pier in Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, October 2019. Length: 11.1 cm (4.4 inches).

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2019. Length: 12 cm (4.5 inches). Photograph courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi, Juvenile. Fish caught from within the harbor at Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, June 2021. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi, Juvenile. Fish caught with a cast net off a pier in Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, October 2017. Length: 15 cm (5.8 inches).

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Loreto, Baja California Sur, June 2024. Length: 21 cm (8.3 inches).

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi. Fish caught from the Estero de Coyote, Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur, June 2023. Length: 21 cm (8.3 inches). Photograph and identification  courtesy of of Captain Gary Boyer, Picabo, Idaho.

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, May 2018. Length: 21 cm (8.3 inches).

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi, Melanistic. Atypical colored fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, May 2018. Length: 24 cm (9.4 inches). Identification courtesy of H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, May 2018. Length: 26 cm (10 inches).

Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, Baja California Sur, July 2018. Length: 26 cm (10 inches).

The Bronzestriped Grunt, Orthopristis reddingi, is a member of the Grunt or Haemulidae Family, and is known in Mexico as burrito rayado. Globally, there are eight species in the genus Orthopristis, of which three are found in Mexican waters, one in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.

The Bronzedstriped Grunt has an elongated slender strongly compressed body with a depth that is 31% to 35% of standard length. They have an overall silvery appearance with orange or bronze oblique stripes that follow the scale rows. All their fins are transparent with the exception of the caudal fin, which is dusky. They have smoothly curved head profiles with a short mouth that ends before the eyes. Their chin has 4 pores, 2 in the front and 2 in the rear and their gill covers are finely serrated with a slightly concave rear margin. Their anal fin has 3 short spines, with the second spine being longer than the third, and a long base, and 9 or 10 rays; their caudal fin is deeply forked; and, their dorsal fin is continuous with 12 spines and 15 rays. They have 12 to 15 lower gill rakers.

The Bronzestriped Grunt is a schooling species found over sandy and muddy bottoms at depths up to 104 m (340 feet). They reach a maximum of 30 cm (12 inches) in length. They are nocturnal carnivores feeding on benthic crustaceans, echinoderms, small fish and mollusks. The Bronzestriped Grunt 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 Bronzestriped Grunt is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

The Bronzestriped Grunt can be confused with the Brassy Grunt, Microlepidotus brevipinnis (body depth 36-40% of standard length; no orange stripes), the Humpback Grunt, Orthopristis chalceus (body depth 37-41% of  standard length; long pectoral fins), the Longfin Salema, Xenichthys xanti (horizontal stripes), the Salema, Haemulon californiensis (body depth 29-33% of standard length; horizontal orange stripes), and the Wavyline Grunt, Microlepidotus inornatus (horizontal stripes).

From a conservation perspective the Bronzestriped Grunt is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and of limited interest to most.