Roosterfish (Nematistius pectoralis) is a saltwater species recorded in the United States.
Scientific name: Nematistius pectoralis · Water: Saltwater
Size: up to 163 cm
The roosterfish is a nematistiid that inhabits shallow inshore areas, frequenting sandy shores along beaches, with juveniles occurring in tide pools. It is exploited on a local level and is marketed fresh. Maximum length is about 163 cm fork length, commonly about 60 cm total length. It is a minor commercial species and a gamefish. Fishing vulnerability is very high at 90 of 100. IUCN lists it as least concern.
It is the only species in the genus Nematistius, the family Nematistiidae and the suborder Nematistioidei, and its name comes from the "rooster comb" of seven long spines at the front of the dorsal fin. Fish can exceed 50 kg. Spawning behaviour has been little studied: the fish gather in large groups known as spawning congregations and perform courtship rituals as they migrate, and they are ovuliparous, shedding sperm and eggs directly into the water for external fertilisation. The eggs hatch into transparent fry that are highly vulnerable to predation. Juveniles are silver with black bands running vertically down the body, and they keep to shallow coastal water where food is plentiful and predators are few, which lets them grow quickly. Sexual maturity is reached at age four or more, after which the fish join the breeding congregations. It is a generalist and important pelagic predator in the coastal regions it occupies: stomach contents have yielded nine species of prey fish and one cephalopod, the most common item being anchovies of the genus Anchoa. Its range in the warmer shallow waters of the south-eastern Pacific runs from Baja California south to Peru.
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