Shiner Surfperch

Cymatogaster aggregata

Shiner Surfperch

Cymatogaster aggregata

Other Common Names
Shiner perch, Yellow shiner, Seven-eleven, Shiner seaperch

Sandy Coast

Other Common Names

Shiner perch, Yellow shiner, Seven-eleven, Shiner seaperch

At the Aquarium

Sandy Coast

Appearance

This fish has silver scales, each with a black dot, has 3 broad yellow vertical bars on its sides, and its back is a dusky green.

Habitat

These fish can tolerate freshwater, brackish, or salt water. They can be found from the surf zone to depths of 200 feet, in bays and estuaries around eelgrass, around piers, and in coastal streams.

Diet

Small items that they grab directly out of the water column or off of the bottom: small crustaceans, isopods, algae, clams, worms, and fish eggs and larvae

Life History

In spring and summer, shiner perch move into shallow waters for to mate and give birth, often in estuaries. A female will give birth to up to 40 young between April and August, and the young in the brood can have as many as 8 different fathers. Young emerge tail-first and are on their own immediately.
A large group of similarly-sized shiner perch will gather for mating. A male will isolate a female and perform a courtship dance that includes quivering his body and rapidly fluttering his anal fin. A female will store the sperm until December, when she fertilizes her eggs.
Shiner perch can reach up to 8 inches in length and live up to 7 years

IUCN Status

Least Concern

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Shiner Perch are considered an Oregon Conservation Strategy species. These fish are important to marine food webs because they feed many predators, including rays, sharks, lingcod, rockfish, sculpin, cormorants, seals, and sea lions.

Southeast Alaska to Baja California, Mexico

Shiner Perch can be found in both our ocean waters and estuaries.

Unlike most fish, which lay eggs, perch are viviparous, giving live birth. In summer, a male’s coloring darkens for courtship and his anal fin develops special appendages for sperm transfer.

Citations & Other Resources

Aquarium of the Pacific website: https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/shiner_surfperch
Biodiversity of the Central Coast website: https://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/shiner-perch-bull-cymatogaster-aggregata.html
Darling, Joan DS, Martha L. Noble, and Evelyn Shaw. inchesReproductive strategies in the surfperches. I. Multiple insemination in natural populations of the shiner perch, Cymatogaster aggregata.inches Evolution (1980): 271-277.
Inaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/98855-Cymatogaster-aggregata
Liu, Jin-Xian, and John C. Avise. inchesHigh degree of multiple paternity in the viviparous Shiner Perch, Cymatogaster aggregata, a fish with long-term female sperm storage.inches Marine Biology 158 (2011): 893-901.
Monterey Bay Aquarium website: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/shiner-surfperch
Oregon Conservation Strategy website: https://www.oregonconservationstrategy.com/strategy-species/shiner-perch/

Shiner Surfperch

Shiner Surfperch

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

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