Fish Identification Photos: Yellowfin Croaker, Yellowfin Drum, Umbrina roncador: The Yellowfin Croaker is characterized by a bright silver overall appearance with a blue tint on the top and white below, a series of oblique undulating brown lines along the sides, yellow fins, and a characteristic single barbell at the tip of the chin.

A key to identification of the Yellowfin Croaker is that it has two anal spines the second of which is wide and thick and one-half the length of the first anal fin ray. The Yellowfin Croaker has finely serrated gill covers, dark gill cavities, and the caudal fin is slightly concave.

The Yellowfin Croaker might be confused with a series of other croakers and most likely the Cortez Croaker, Umbrina wintersteeni (pale pectoral fins, lines on sides not oblique, shout longer that eye diameter), and the Surf Croaker, Umbrina xanti (the second anal spine is thin).

The Yellowfin Croaker reaches 20 inches in length, but is normally between 12 and 14 inches. It is found in the first 100 feet of the water column and often in the surge zone.

The Yellowfin Croaker is caught primarily on cut bait including clams, squid, mullet, etc., with small hooks and bottom rigs.

In Mexico, the Yellowfin Croaker is found all along Pacific coast of Baja California, throughout the Sea of Cortez and along the coast of the Mexican mainland as far south as Acapulco. It appears to be absent from around the Mexican oceanic islands.

The Yellowfin Croaker is viewed by locals as excellent table fare. However, in the United States it is highly regulated and banned from commercial sale.

The Yellowfin Croaker is a member of the Sciaenidae Family, a series of croakers or drums caught out of the surf and known in Mexico as corvinas and berrugatas.

Yellowfin Croaker, Umbrina roncador: Donated to Mexfish.com by the Mexican commercial pangueros fishermen of Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, June 2007. Size: 13 inches. Identification reconfirmed by H.J. Walker, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif. Description and photo courtesy of John Snow. Yellowfin Croaker, Umbrina roncador (possible): Photo courtesy Trout Traubman. Yellowfin Croaker, Umbrina roncador (or possible Wintersteen Croaker): Caught near Punta Colorada, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico, August 2002. Locals called it a "blanco" or "blancito," and said it was good eating. I caught them easily on a 5/8-ounce chrome Krocodile and 4-inch plastic swim bait with a 3/8-ounce leadhead. They were found mostly where a sandy bottom abuts rocks." Description and photo courtesy John Reyes. Fish I.D. courtesy Peter Langstraat.