Sandfish

Trichodon trichodon

Sandfish

Trichodon trichodon

Other Common Names
Pacific Sandfish

Sandy Coast

Other Common Names

Pacific Sandfish

At the Aquarium

Sandy Coast

Appearance

Sandfish are scaleless with silvery sides and belly and a dark back with dark spots. They have a very upturned mouth and a fringed lip.

Habitat

While larvae and juveniles stay in nearshore waters, adults tend to inhabit deeper waters, up to 328 feet deep.

Diet

Larger sandfish will feed on other fishes while younger sandfish eat mostly invertebrates, including larval crustaceans.

Life History

Sandfish spawn from winter through spring on rocky intertidal shorelines, with a female releasing an egg mass of 1,000 to 15,000 eggs in a season that will firmly attach to a rock. Each egg is about 0.13 inches across and it takes a full year for the eggs to incubate. Pelagic larvae hatch out at 0.5 inches long and immediately start schooling in surface waters. Larvae undergo metamorphosis when they are about 2 inches long. The juveniles will start to bury themselves in the sand once they have developed the fringes on their lips. Reach a maximum length of 12 inches and live to 9 years.

IUCN Status

Not Evaluated

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Predators of sandfish include commercially important fish species (chinook and coho salmon, Pacific cod, Pacific halibut), a variety of seabirds (common murres, horned and tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, terns and others), and marine mammals (harbor and northern fur seals, Steller sea lions, minks, and river otters).

Western Pacific. Eastern Pacific: Alaska to California

Sandfish are occasionally caught by recreational fishing.

Sandfish are named for their habit of burying themselves in the sand during the day with just their eyes and nostrils exposed, emerging at night to feed. However, larvae and juveniles will form large schools to feed in nearshore surface waters during the day. They will even school with young fish of other species, including various salmon species and herring. It is thought that the fringed lips prevent sand from entering their mouth as they take in water for oxygen.

Citations & Other Resources

Fishbase website
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.
Stroud, RICHARD K., CLIFFORD H. Fiscus, and H. I. R. O. S. H. I. Kajimura. inchesSpawn and larvae of the Pacific sandfish, Trichodon trichodon.inches Fishery Bulletin 78.4 (1981): 959-964.
Thedinga, John F., Scott W. Johnson, and Donald G. Mortensen. inchesHabitat, age, and diet of a forage fish in southeastern Alaska: Pacific sandfish (Trichodon trichodon).inches Fishery Bulletin 104.4 (2006): 631.

Sandfish

Sandfish

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

Contact Us

Subscribe to E-Newsletter

About Oregon Coast Aquarium