Alternate Names:
Sheepie, goat, billygoats (large fish), red fish, humpy, and fathead.
Identification: Easily identified by color. Adult females
uniform brownish-red to rose; male with black head, red band in middle,
and black in posterior portion of body; chin white on both sexes. Males
have a fleshy lump on their forehead. Stout canine teeth in front of mouth;
somewhat bucktoothed.
Size: Length to
3 feet, and weight to 36.25 pounds.
Range: Northern
Gulf of California and from Cape San Lucas, Baja California, to Monterey.
Common in southern California, uncommon north of Point Conception.
Habitat: Surface
to 180 feet deep, along rocky bottoms and in kelp beds.
Piers: Available
from piers located near rocks. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, Oceanside
Pier, San Clemente Pier, Green Pleasure Pier -- Avalon, Redondo Sportfishing
Pier and Santa Monica Pier. A number have also been taken from the Shelter
Island Pier in San Diego Bay.
Bait and Tackle:
Medium sized tackle, hooks size 4-2/0, and a variety of baits -- shrimp,
ghost shrimp, bloodworms, fresh mussels, cut squid -- will attract sheephead
if they're around the pier.
Food Value: Good.
Comments: Feeds
on such delicacies as sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, snails,
squid, lobsters, shrimp and crabs which it crushes with tooth-plates in
the rear of the mouth. Can live to over 50 years and is a protogynous
hermaphrodite starting life as a female and then turning into a male when
about one foot in length and 4 to 5 years in age.
