Fish ID

[mjonesjr]

I've been seeing these a lot lately being caught in my shrimp trap at Martinez Pier and Eckley Pier. I know they're way up into the delta system too but cannot find someone who knows exactly what they are. It's like a staghorn sculpin/Bullhead but without horns and they're smaller. I've literally pulled up as many as 20 at a time too but cannot seem to find a Gobi or a staghorn sculpin/Bullhead lately for the life of me. I'm wondering if these things are having an impact on them both too.

Everyone I've talked with have said they are not good at all for bait and nobody's reported ever catching anything on them. As if fish simply stay away which would be strange as I'd expect them to be a great live or dead Striper bait.

I've been recently fishing again with Robert/Redfish who said he'd heard they were caused by a release of ballast water from a ship. Similar to how they say the Mitten Crab seemed to have been introduced. Thank goodness those things are not an issue anymore. In the late 90's and early 2000's they were horrible. In any case Red didn't know what they were called either.

I've also fished recently with Bob/StripedSideChaser who said that he'd heard that these things were specifically introduced by DFG into the delta system. He didn;t have a name but called them "slimers" and also concurred they do not seem to work as a bait.

If anyone knows what they're called or has the knowledge and history of how they got here please share.

Thanks,
mjonesjr

 

[EgoNonBaptizo]

I did a quick search on Fishbase, and the closest thing that I could find was the shokihaze goby (Tridentiger barbatus), which was likely introduced in ballast water.

Edit: additional source - http://calfish.ucdavis.edu/species/?uid=118&ds=241

 

[mjonesjr]

Yep, that was it.

Thank you,
mjonesjr

 

[Ken Jones]

Some type of goby. Three types are found in our "Fish" pages—Longbow Goby (Mudsucker) , Yellowfin Goby and Chameleon Goby, all (now) common to SF Bay. I will send the picture to Milton Love at the Love Lab and get his input.

 

[mjonesjr]

Some type of goby. Three types are found in our "Fish" pages—Longbow Goby (Mudsucker) , Yellowfin Goby and Chameleon Goby, all (now) common to SF Bay. I will send the picture to Milton Love at the Love Lab and get his input.

Ken, I believe EgoNonBaptizo has it correct that it's the Shokihaze Goby (Tridentiger Barbatus) but I am not aware of them being called anything else specific.

 

[Ken Jones]

I'm waiting to hear from Milton, he should know.

 

[Ken Jones]

Milton finally relplied but simply said it's one of th non-native gobies brought in — and probably from Asia.

 

[mjonesjr]

Milton finally relplied but simply said it's one of th non-native gobies brought in — and probably from Asia.

Thanks for the follow up Ken. Based on the information provided by EgoNonBaptizo earlier in the post with identifying it I was able to determine the same thing.

After talking to a lot more people while out fishing the most common thing people call them is “Slimers”.

What’s interesting is the since their population has significantly increased I find that bullhead/Sculpins and regular Gobi’s are hard to come by as they once were.

Not sure if there’s any correlation between huge rise in their population around Martinez and Eckley piers.

mjonesjr.

 

[Ken Jones]

Unfortunately when the non-native species move in it sometimes adversly affects the native species. In San Francisco Bay, yellowfin gobies and chameleon gobies are now very common while some say the number of longjaw gobies aka mudsuckers, a prime bait for leopard sharks, have decreased. I don't know if that's true but it could be.

 

[Red Fish]

Unfortunately when the non-native species move in it sometimes adversly affects the native species. In San Francisco Bay, yellowfin gobies and chameleon gobies are now very common while some say the number of longjaw gobies aka mudsuckers, a prime bait for leopard sharks, have decreased. I don't know if that's true but it could be.

You know Ken, it’s San Pablo Bay where the longjaw mudsucker is used for leopard shark. Although it could be used in SF Bay, midshipmen and everything else is used other than that (even though I have seen them in the stomach of leopard shark along with rockfish).
Longjaw mudsucker has been more of a striper bait which is sold live in some bait shops. Actually, they are more available than bullheads currently.

 

[Ken Jones]

You're right, I was thinking midshipman and my old brain didn't work. Glad you corrected that. Duh!