Cabezon are named for their large heads. Their bodies are scaleless and have brown, red, or green coloring with darker mottling. There is a skin flap covering their snout and long, branched skin flaps over each eye.
Habitat
Found in estuaries and in shallow waters over hard bottoms: Intertidal pools to depths of 250 feet
Diet
Opportunistic carnivores: crabs, small lobsters, mollusks, small fish, and fish eggs.
Life History
A male builds a nest and more than one female may lay her eggs in it. A female will release between 57,000 and 152,000 eggs in a single batch. Male guards nest. The eggs are toxic and rarely eaten by predators. It takes 12-49 days for the eggs to hatch. Larvae are just 0.02 inches when they hatch and still have a yolk sac visible. The larvae will float for 3-4 months until settling to tidepools, shallow subtidal areas, or around platforms when they are between 1-2 inches long. Juveniles live around rocks, eelgrass, and algae. Males reach sexual maturity at 2-3 years old while females mature at 3-5 years. Spawn more than once a year.
Cabezon can grow to lengths of 39 inches and live over 20 years.
IUCN Status
Not Evaluated
Ecosystem & Cultural Importance
Cabezons were commonly eaten by Native Americans all along the Pacific Coast. These fish are important members of marine food webs. Their predators include copper rockfish, sablefish, various rockfish, steelhead, threespine sticklebacks, white sharks, pigeon guillemots, least terns, Brandt’s cormorants, harbor seals, sea lions, and sea otters.
The blue flesh of a cabezon is caused by a bile pigment called biliverdin, which causes both the blood and muscles of this fish to turn blue. The source of this bile is not known though it might come from their prey, as some invertebrates will store bile from algae.
Citations & Other Resources
Love, Milton S. Certainly more than you want to know about the fishes of the Pacific Coast: a postmodern experience. Really Big Press: Santa Barbara. 2011. 649 pp. ISBN 978-0-9628725-6-3.
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