Spotted Lizardfish, Synodus evermanni

Spotted Lizardfish, Synodus evermanni. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, February 2004. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches).

Spotted Lizardfish, Synodus evermanni. Fish caught from coastal waters within Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja California, November 2017. Length: 18 cm (7.1 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

The Spotted Lizardfish, Synodus evermanni, is a member of the Lizardfish or Synodontidae Family, that is also known as the Inotted lizardfish and in Mexico as chile cadena. Globally, there are thirty-seven species in the genus Synodus, of which eleven are found in Mexican waters, six in the Atlantic and five in the Pacific Ocean.

The Spotted Lizardfish has an elongated tubular robust body that has a depth that is 12% to 16% of standard length. Overall they have a grayish brown coloration, which is silvery white on the sides and white ventrally. They have 8 or 9 dark blotches along the lateral line. Their adipose and pectoral fins are dark; their anal, dorsal, and pelvic fins are transparent; and their caudal fin is dusky. Their head is long being 26% to 28% of standard length, and has a long, sharply-pointed snout, large eyes, a lower jaw that ends in a flesh knob, and a large, slightly oblique mouth that extends well past the eyes. Their mouth opens at the front and is equipped with many rows of fine pointed teeth. Their small adipose fin is above their anal fin; their anal fin has 10 or 11 rays with a base that is shorter than their dorsal fin base; their caudal fin is forked; their dorsal fin has 10 or 11 rays and is mid-body and originates closer to their adipose fin than their snout tip; their pectoral fins are mid-sized; and their pelvic fins have 8 rays and are large and found behind their pectoral fins. Their fins are spineless. They have a straight lateral line.

The Spotted Lizardfish is a demersal species that is found within and over sandy and muddy bottoms in very deep waters at depths up to 330 m (1,000 feet). They reach a maximum of 48 cm (19 inches) in length. They are voracious ambush predators feeding primarily on small fish, krill, squid, and shrimp. The Spotted Lizardfish 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 Spotted Lizardfish is a resident of is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution being found from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, southward along central and southwest coasts of Baja, in the southern two-thirds of the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala.

The Spotted Lizardfish can be confused with the Calico Lizardfish, Synodus lacertinus (caudal and dorsal fins with prominent bars).

From a conservation perspective the Spotted Lizardfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely distributed populations.  They are a fairly common by-catch at certain times of the year taken out of very deep water while trying to “make bait”; they are also a frequent by-catch of deepwater shrimp trawlers. They are small in stature and of limited interest to most and a “catch-and-release.”