Whitespotted Soapfish, Rypticus maculatus
Whitespotted Soapfish, Rypticus maculatus. Fish caught from coastal waters off St. Augustine, Florida, July 2021. Length: 10.8 cm (4.3 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.
Whitespotted Soapfish, Rypticus maculatus. Fish caught from coastal waters off St. Petersburg, Florida, May 2016. Length: 12.0 cm (4.7 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).
The Whitespotted Soapfish, Rypticus maculatus, is a member of the Grouper or Epinephelidae Family, and is known in Mexico as jabonero albipunteado. The soapfishes are named for their ability to produce a toxic body mucus that forms a slimy, suds like lather when agitated which provides them with a defense to avoid predation. Globally, there are nine species in the genus Rypticus, of which seven are found in Mexican waters, five in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.
The Whitespotted Soapfish has an elongated, and very compressed body. Overall they are brown in color with the top of the snout and nape being pale. They have a dark stripe that extends from the mouth through the eye to the top corner of the gill cover. The have scattered irregular white spot along the back and sides. Their pelvic fins are pale. Their head has an oblique forehead and a long snout and a projecting lower jaw equipped with teeth set in bands. Their anal fin is spineless and has 13 to 17 rays; their caudal fin is rounded; their dorsal fin has 2 or 3 spines and 22 to 27 rays; and, their pectoral have 13 to 17 rays. Their skin is smooth to the touch.
The Whitespotted Soapfish is a demersal species that reside within rocky and coral reefs and around jetties and oil platforms in waters between 23oC (73oF) and 26oC (79oF) at depths up to 100 m (330 feet). They reach a maximum of 24 cm (9.4 inches) in length. They are a secretive nocturnal species that feeds on crustaceans and fishes. They are protogynous hermaphrodites with the females able to change sex to males. They are a relatively small and rare species. The Whitespotted Soapfish 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 Whitespotted Soapfish is an uncommon resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic with a limited distribution being found throughout the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Cayo Arcas on the Campeche Bank off Campeche.
The Whitespotted Soapfish is a straightforward identification due to it’s “soapfish” body profile and it being the only species of the five soapfishes found in Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean that has white spots on the sides.
From a conservation perspective the Whitespotted Soapfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and too rare to be of interest to most.