White Croaker

White Croaker, Genyonemus lineatus

White Croaker, Genyonemus lineatus. Fish caught in coastal waters off Long Beach, California, September 2017. Length: 15.0 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

White Croaker, Genyonemus lineatus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Santa Cruz, California, May 2012. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

White Croaker, Genyonemus lineatus. Fish caught in coastal waters off Long Beach, California, June 2016. Length: 31 cm (12 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California. Identification reconfirmed by H.J. Walker, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

The White Croaker, Genyonemus lineatus, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, and is known in Mexico as corvineta blanca. Globally, this is the only species in the genus Genyonemus and it is found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The White Croaker has an elongated, oblong, and compressed body. They are silvery with tinges of yellow-bronze dorsally, a small dark spot at the base of their pectoral fin, and white or yellow fins. Their head is oblong and bluntly rounded with a recessed mouth. Adults have no barbels. Their anal fin has 2 spines and 10 to 12 rays; their caudal fin has a straight margin; their first dorsal fin has 12 to 15 spines; their second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 18 to 25 rays; and, their pectoral fins are long reaching past the tip of the pelvic fins. They have 27 to 33 gill rakers. Their body is covered with rough scales.

The adult White Croaker is an epibenthic species that is found in loose schools over sandy bottoms in turbid water normally at depths up to 30 m (100 feet) but they have also been seen at depths up to 201 m (660 feet). They reach a maximum of 41 cm (16 inches) in length and 0.45 kg (1 lb 0 oz) in weight. They are dimorphic with females being larger than males. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 0.45 kg (1 lb 0 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Marin County, California in August 2018. They are known to migrate to deeper waters during the winter. Their diet consists of smaller fish and epibenthic and benthic invertebrates, including clams, shrimp, crabs and polychaete worms. In turn they are preyed upon by numerous larger fish, various marine mammals, and sea birds. Reproduction is oviparous with each female spawning multiple times throughout the year and releasing between 8,000 to 37,000 eggs. They have lifespans  of up to fifteen years.

The White Croaker is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution in being found from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

The White Croaker is very similar to the California Corbina, Menticirrhus undulatus (barbell at tip of snout; 10 to 12 dorsal spines) and the Yellowfin Croaker, Umbrina roncador (barbell at tip of snout; ten dorsal spines).

From a conservation perspective the White Croaker is currently considered to be Near Threatened with landing rates in California decreasing from 150,000 to 30,000 pounds annually over the last twenty years. These declines are attributed to fishing pressure and high levels of pollution including DDT and PCBs from agricultural runoffs. The White Croaker is a mainstay of the year-round California pier fishery and small party vessels and can become pests at times. Commercially they were a very important species in California in the early 19th century, then the fishery declined, resurfaced in the 1970s, and declined again with the implementation of a ban on gill nets from near shore waters. As a food fish, they suffer from a bad reputation being soft, mushy, and parasite-ridden. Commercial fish are used as an ingredient of crab sticks. They are also used on a limited basis as a live bait targeting Calico Bass and California Halibut. The White Croaker dates to the Late Pliocene Period, 2,600,000 years ago, and were an important food fish for Native Americans.