Leopard Cusk-eel, Lepophidium pardale

Leopard Cusk-eel, Lepophidium pardale. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, December 2009. Length: 16 cm (6.3 inches). Identification reconfirmed by Dr. Robert N. Lea, Monterey, California.

The Leopard Cusk-eel, Lepophidium pardale, is a member of the Cusk Eel or Ophidiidae Family, and is known in Mexico as congriperla leopard. Globally, there are 23 species in the genus Leopophidium, of which 14 are found in Mexican waters, 9 in the Atlantic and 5 in the Pacific Ocean.

The Leopard Cusk-eel has an elongated compressed body that tapers to a point at the rear. They are a light olive color with three series of spots on their sides – small dorsally, eye-sized in the middle, and small ventrally. Their sides and the lower parts of their head and body are speckled with black. Their anal fin is black, their caudal fin has a black margin, and their dorsal fin is pale with ten elongated black blotches along its margin. Their gill cover has a white vertical bar. Their head is short with a small mouth and large eyes. Their anal and dorsal fin bases are long and continuous with a pointed caudal fin; the dorsal fin is longer and originates before the anal fin. Their pectoral fins are short and reach less than half-way to the anal fin. Their pelvic fins have a pair of small threads inserted under the eyes. They have a strong snout spine that reaches the tip of the upper jaw. They are covered with small round scales.

The Leopard Cusk-eel is a demersal species that is found over and within sandy and muddy bottoms at depths up to 250 m (820 feet). They reach a maximum length of 50 cm (20 inches). They hide in caves during the daytime and only emerge at night to feed on crustaceans, polychaete worms, small clams, and other invertebrates.

The Leopard Cusk-eel is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, southward along the southwest coast of the Baja, in the lower two-thirds of the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala.

The Leopard Cusk-eel is a straightforward identification due to the spotting on their sides but they are somewhat similar to the Spotted Cusk-eel, Chilara taylori (small black spots in rows along the sides) and the Spotfin Cusk-eel, Ophidion galeoides (broken brown stripe along the lateral line; dark blotch at the front of the dorsal fin).

From a conservation perspective the Leopard Cusk-eel is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely-distributed populations. The are a by-catch of deep water trawlers and by hook and line by commercial fishermen in the greater Los Cabos area, 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.