Orangemouth Corvina, Cynoscion xanthulus
Orangemouth Corvina, Cynoscion xanthulus. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of Bahía Kino, Sonora, November 2014. Length: 30 cm (12 inches). Photographs courtesy of Maria Johnson, Prescott College Kino Bay Center, Kino Bay, Sonora.
Orangemouth Corvina, Cynoscion xanthulus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2017. Length: 64 cm (2 feet 0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Orangemouth Corvina, Cynoscion xanthulus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Mazatlán, Sinaloa, October 2021. Length: 66 cm (2 feet 1 inch). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Bart, The Netherlands (worldangler.eu).
The Orangemouth Corvina, Cynoscion xanthulus, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, that is also known as the Orangemouth Weakfish and in Mexico as corvina boquinaranja. Globally, there are twenty-four species in the genus Cynoscion, of which thirteen are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic and ten in the Pacific Ocean.
The Orangemouth Corvina has an elongated fusiform compressed body with an oval cross-section. They have a silvery coloration with a blue tinge on their upper back. The inside of their mouth is bright yellow orange, their anal and caudal fins are yellow, and their pectoral fin base is dark. Their head has a pointed snout with a strongly oblique mouth that ends after the eyes. They have a pair of large pointed canine teeth at the front of their top jaw. The edge of their gill cover is smooth. They do not have pores or barbels on their chin. Their anal fin has 2 spines and 8 or 9 rays; their caudal fin has a blunt point; their first dorsal fin has 9 spines, a notch, and the second dorsal fin has a long base and 1 spine and 19 or 20 rays; and, their pectoral fins are short and do not reach the tip of the pelvic fins. They have 8 to 10 gill rakers and their body is covered with rough scales.
The Orangemouth Corvina is a demersal species that is found over sandy bottoms in estuaries, open bays, and coastal waters at depths up to 50 m (165 feet). They reach a maximum of 90 cm (2 feet 11 inches) in length and 24 kg (54 lbs) in weight. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 24.6 kg (54 lbs 3 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Guayaquil, Ecuador in July 1992. They feed on small fish and shrimp. The Orangemouth Corvina 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 Orangemouth Corvina is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from Guerrero Negro, Baja California, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.
A corvina with an orangemouth is not necessarily an Orangemouth Corvina! The Orangemouth Corvina can be confused with the Queen Corvina, Cynoscion albus (yellow mouth; pectoral fins longer than pelvic fins), the Scalyfin Corvina, Cynoscion squamipinnis (7 or 8 dorsal spines; blunt tail), the Totoaba, Totoaba macdonaldi (23 to 25 dorsal rays), and the White Seabass, Atractoscion nobilis (wide gap between dorsal fins), and the Yellowtail Corvina, Cynoscion stolzmanni (“S”-shaped caudal fin).
From a conservation perspective the Orangemouth Corvina has not been formally evaluated and is currently considered to be Data Deficient. They are fairly abundant in some locations and are sold commercially. They are an important food fish along the west coast of the mainland within the Sea of Cortez.