Blacktail Snailfish, Blacktailed Liparid
Baboso Colinegra
(Careproctus melanurus)

Blacktail Snailfish, Careproctus melanurus: The Blacktail Snailfish has an overall off-white to pinkish body with black anal and dorsal fins that are attached to a long black-tipped caudal fin.

The lining of the mouth and gill cavity and the tongue of the Blacktail Snailfish are also black.

The Blacktail Snailfish has a fairly unique body shape in that the anus is very far forward, being almost directly under the eyes (as pictured here). The Blacktail Snailfish has small pelvic discs that are less than the diameter of the eye of which the posterior margin is under the gill cavity. It lacks anal and dorsal spines as well as a lateral line.

This fish species reaches a maximum of 11 inches in length and three pounds in weight and it has a maximum life span of eight years. It is found between 300 and 5,200 feet deep in the water column over mud bottoms and ranges from the Alaskan waters of the Bering Sea to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. It feeds on polychaete worms, small crustaceans, small clams and other invertebrates.

It is not readily confused with any other species and is of limited interest to most.

The Blacktail Snailfish is a member of the Liparididae or Snailfish Family which in Mexico fishing waters are known as peces babosos. The snailfishes are bathydermal (bottom feeders below 600 feet) found on mud bottoms between 300 and 7,000 feet deep. They have soft, flabby, scaleless bodies, a suction pad formed by modified pelvic fins, a tadpole like head, dorsal and anal fins which are continuous with the caudal fin, and a body that tapers to a point at the rear. Globally, there are 114 known species of the Careproctus Genus.

Blacktail Snailfish picture

Blacktail Snailfish, Careproctus melanurus: Caught during fishing out of 600 foot deep water at the 9.5-mile bank off Point Loma, Calif., in April 2008, by Eddie Kisfaludy, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif. Size, 24 cm. Fish identification courtesy of H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif. Description and photo courtesy of John Snow.

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