Official name versus common names for inshore fish.
If you are going to fish in California you should know the official name of different fish. Otherwise, you may break the law and not even know it: the fish may have a minimum size, the fish may be illegal to keep, etc.
Official Name — Common name
Pacific Spiny Dogfish — dog shark, pinback shark, spinarola (Humboldt Bay), sand shark.
Horn Shark — bullhead shark, horny.
Thresher Shark — longtail shark.
Shortfin Mako — bonito shark or mackerel shark.
Swell Shark — catshark, puffer shark or balloon shark.
Leopard shark — tiger shark.
Gray Smoothhound Shark — gray shark, sand shark, dogfish.
Brown Smoothhound Shark — sand shark, dogfish.
Shovelnose Guitarfish — shovelnose shark, sand shark.
Thornback Ray — pinback ray, prickleback shark, banjo shark.
Big Skate — barndoor skate.
Pacific Electric Ray — torpedo ray, torpedo, numbfish.
Round Stingray — stingaree, stinger.
Bat Ray — sting ray, stingaree, eagle ray, flapper, rat tailed stingray, monkey face ray, mud marlin.
White Sturgeon — Sacramento sturgeon, Pacific sturgeon.
Green Sturgeon — golden sturgeon.
Pacific Sardine — ‘dines, dinies (small sardines) and dinos, firecrackers (small sardines), rhinos or trout (large sardines).
King Salmon — Chinook salmon, black mouth.
Silver Salmon — coho salmon, silversides.
Night Smelt — nightfish, whitebait, sand smelt.
Speckled Midshipman — toadfish, bullhead, singing fish.
California Needlefish — garfish.
Jacksmelt — horse smelt, blue smelt, silverside.
Topsmelt — bay smelt.
California Scorpionfish — sculpin (although in rockfish family), scorpion, rattlesnake, little poker.
Grass Rockfish — grass bass, rock bass, sugar bass, green rockfish.
Kelp Rockfish — sugar bass, dumb bass, grass bass.
Brown Rockfish — chocolate bass, sand bass, cinnamon bass, brown bomber.
Black and Yellow Rockfish — black and tan rockfish, sand bass.
Gopher Rockfish — butterball, butter bass, gopher cod.
Treefish — convict fish, convict bass, lipstick bass, barber pole.
Blue Rockfish — blue bass, blue fish, blue perch, priest fish.
Black Rockfish — black bass, bass rockfish, black snapper.
Olive Rockfish — sugar bass, Johnny bass, Jonathan, greenie, kelp yellowtail, kelp salmon, bass rockfish.
China Rockfish — China fish, yellowstripe rockfish.
Copper Rockfish — chucklehead, whitebelly rockfish, white gopher.
Bocaccio — salmon grouper. The small bocaccio found at piers are often called red snapper or tomcod.
Sablefish — blackcod (Alaska), butterfish (California).
Lingcod — ling, leopard cod, blue cod, Smurf cod, Pacific cultus, greenlinger, lingasaur.
Kelp Greenling — seatrout, rock trout, kelp trout, kelp cod.
Rock Greenling — seatrout, red greenling, red seatrout, red rock trout.
Painted Greenling — convict fish.
Cabezon — bullhead, marbled sculpin, cab, cabby, bull cod, giant sculpin, cab driver, frog fish, handle bars.
Pacific Staghorn Sculpin — bullhead.
Striped Bass — striper, linesider, rock bass, squidhound, rock.
Giant Sea Bass — black sea bass.
Kelp Bass — calico bass, rock bass, bull bass (large fish), checkerboard, bucket mouth (large fish), police car.
Spotted Sand Bass — bay bass, spotted bay bass, spotty, spotted bass.
Barred Sand Bass — sandy, grumps or grumpy (large fish), ground bass, sugar bass, Johnny Verde bass, puss gut, turd roller.
Ocean Whitefish — whities, bottom yellowtail, blanquillo.
California Yellowtail — yellowtail jack, forktail, rat (little fish), firecracker (small fish), mossback (large fish), amberjack, white salmon.
Jack Mackerel — Spanish mackerel, horse mackerel, mackerel jack, saurel.
Salema — Bass, big eye bass, striped bass, lima perch.
Sargo — China croaker, black croaker, grunt, blue bass.
White Croaker — tomcod (southern California), roncador (Ventura and Santa Barbara area), kingfish (central and northern California), sewer trout, tommy croaker, brownie or brown bait.
Queenfish — herring, herring croaker, brownie or brown bait, sea trout (in Ventura area).
Yellowfin Croaker — surf fish, golden croaker, Catalina croaker.
Spotfin Croaker — spot, spotty, golden croaker, roncador.
Black Croaker — China croaker, Chinese croaker, Chinafin croaker.
California Corbina — whiting, king croaker, corbie, bean and beanie.
White Seabass — ghost, grey ghost, biscuits, king croaker, Catalina salmon, weakfish, seatrout (young fish).
Shortfin Corvina — bigtooth corvina, shortfin seabass, sea trout, weakfish, vampire corvina.
Opaleye — blue-eye perch, green perch, Catalina perch, button-back, button perch.
Halfmoon — Catalina blue perch, island mackerel, blooper, blue wizard.
Zebraperch — convict fish.
Barred Surfperch — barreds, sand perch, surfperch, silver perch.
Calico Surfperch — surf perch, humpback perch, porgy (or porgie).
Redtail Surfperch — redtail perch,rosy surf perch, porgy (or porgie).
Walleye Surfperch — bigeye perch, silver perch, white perch, China pompano.
Silver Surfperch — silver perch.
Spotfin Surfperch — silver perch.
Rubberlip Seaperch — buttermouth perch, porgee, liverlip.
Black Perch — buttermouth perch, black surfperch, black seaperch, bay perch.
Rainbow Surfperch — rainbow surfperch, striped perch.
Striped Seaperch — striped surfperch, bluer perch, striped surf fish.
Pile Perch — splittail perch, forktail perch, dusky perch, piler perch, porgy.
White Seaperch — splittail perch, forktaoil perch, white perch.
Shiner Perch — shiner, 7-11 perch, yellow perch.
Sharpnose Seaperch — blackfoot seaperch, sharpnose surfperch.
Kelp Perch — brown seaperch, brown perch, kelp seaperch.
Dwarf Perch — shiner.
Reef Perch — reef surfperch.
Garibaldi — golden perch, ocean sunfish, ocean goldfish.
Blacksmith — blue perch, kelp perch, rock bass.
Pacific Barracuda — cuda, barry, gar, firehose, stove pipe, skinny, scooter, snake, slime, pencil (small fish), barelycuda (small or short fish), log (big fish).
Senorita — kelp fish, iodine fish, butterfish.
Rock Wrasse — wrasse, iodine fish, parrot fish.
California Sheephead — sheepie, goat, billygoat (large fish), red fish, snaggle tooth, humpy, fathead.
Monkeyface Prickleback — monkeyface eel, blenny eel.
Pacific (Chub) Mackerel — greenback, green mackerel, greenies, candy bar greenies (small fish), blue mackerel, zebra mackerel, chub mackerel, night mackerel, tiny tuna, mac, big mack, mac trash.
Pacific Bonito — bonehead, bone, boner, bonefish, flasher, bongo, poor man’s tuna, striped tuna.
Pacific Butterfish — pompano, California pompano, dollarfish, pomps.
California Halibut — halibut, flounder, hali, flattie, chicken halibut, fly swatter or postage stamp (small halibut), door mats (large halibut), barn doors (extra large halibut).
Longfin Sanddab — sanddab, Catalina sanddab, soft flounder.
Pacific Sanddab — sanddab, soft flounder, mottled sanddab, pop tart.
Speckled Sanddab — sanddab, soft flounder, Catalina sanddab.
Fantail Sole — long fin sole, long finned flounder, fantail halibut.
Sand Sole — sand flounder, spotted flounder, fringe sole.
Diamond Turbot — turbot, diamond flounder.
C-O Sole — c-o turbot, mottled turbot, popeye sole.
Starry Flounder — rough-jacket, grindstone, emery flounder, emerywheel, leatherjacket, sand paper flounder, diamondback, long-jaw flounder.