Whitesnout Searobin, Prionotus albirostris. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, June 2009. Length: 26 cm (10 inches).

The Whitesnout Searobin, Prionotus albirostris, is a member of the Searobin or Triglidae Family, that is also known as the Whitesnout Gurnard, and in Mexico as vaca cariblanca. Globally, there are twenty-three species in the genus Prionotus, of which fifteen are found in Mexican waters, ten in the Atlantic and five in the Pacific Ocean.

The Whitesnout Searobin has a rectangular block-like body that are gray brown in color with darker mottling and white undersides. Their large square bony head features large eyes and is covered with many ridges and spines. Their caudal fin is black with a single central white bar and white margin; their dorsal fin is dusky with brown mottling and spotting; and their pectoral fins are spotted on the upper half and black on the lower half. They are characterized by white spots that are found on their lips at the corner of their mouth, giving rise to their name. Their mouth is small and their jaw does not reach eye level. Their anal fin has 11 rays; their first dorsal fin has 10 spines, the first with a serrated edge; their second dorsal fin has 12 rays; and, their pectoral fins have 13 to 14 rays, with the second and third being large, that are exceedingly long, reaching past the second dorsal fin. They have 5 or 6 gill rakers on the lower arch. Their body is covered with very rough scales.

The Whitesnout Searobin is found over and within sandy and muddy bottoms at depths between 16 m (60 feet) and 100 m (330 feet). They are more active and feed at night; during the day they are und submerged in sand. They reach a maximum 30 cm (12 inches) in length, as established by a fish in my possession. The Whitesnout Searobin 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 Whitesnout Searobin is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

The Whitesnout Searobin can be confused with the Lumptail Searobin, Prionotus stephanophrys (long black pectoral fins; spotted caudal fin; long mouth; black spot on the dorsal fin between the fourth and fifth spine).

From a conservation perspective the Whitesnout Searobin is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Due to their bony structure and rarity they are of limited interest to most. They are a frequent by-catch of deepwater shrimp trawlers around the tip of Baja.