Pacific Drum, Larimus pacificus

Pacific Drum, Larimus pacificus. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, June 2008. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches).

Pacific Drum, Larimus pacificus. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2011. Length: 27 cm (11 inches). Identification reconfirmed by H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

The Pacific Drum, Larimus pacificus, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, and is known in Mexico as boquinete del Pacifico. Globally, there are seven species in the genus Larimus, of which five are found in Mexican waters, one in the Atlantic and four in the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Drum has a short oval compressed body with a humped back and a short compressed head with a short snout. They have a silvery gray coloration. Their sides have dark stripes that follow the scale rows. Their fins are pale to dusky and their pectoral fins have a dark axil. They have large eyes, a slightly oblique mouth ending behind the center of the eyes, and a slightly projecting lower jaw. Their chin does not have a barbel, however it does have 4 minute pores on the tip and 8 pores on the snout. The margin of their gill covers is smooth. Their anal fin has 2 spines and 6 rays with the second spine being stout and slightly shorter than the first ray; their caudal fin is slightly rounded; their first dorsal fin has 10 spines, a notch, and the second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 26 to 28 rays; their pectoral fins are long with 16 or 17 rays; and, their pelvic fins are short. They have 31 to 33 long and slender gill rakers and are covered with rough scales.

The Pacific Drum is a demersal species that is found over sandy bottoms along the shore, in the surf zone, and in inshore bays at depths up to 274 m (900 feet). They reach a maximum length of 32 cm (13 inches). The Pacific Drum 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 Pacific Drum 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. They are much more common in coastal waters of Panama, being omnipresent in the Panama Fish Market, and northern Peru.

The Pacific Drum is most likely confused with the Steeplined Drum, Larimus acclivis (14 or 15 pectoral rays; all fins dusky).

From a conservation perspective the Pacific Drum is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are too rare and too small to be of interest to most.