And the King of the Surf is…
…the redtail surfperch, Amphistichus rhodoterus. Redtail Surfperch Redtails rule theoutershores beaches. See Let’s Check Out Another Surfperch for an introduction to the redtail surfperch. They’re...
View ArticleRedtail Rush
When I visit theoutershores I’m usually working on a project. Over the last few years I’ve been characterizing the community of surf fishes (see And the King of the Surf is…) and exploring color...
View ArticleFins on Fire
Low Tide in the Surf Zone Surfperch live on sandy beaches which can be vast, uniformly colored and featureless. It’s a drab place. Sometimes the beaches are broken up by rock features but true...
View ArticleTo Bite, or Not to Bite
That’s an age old dilemma. I put surfperch to the test last year with a preference experiment. I presented colored lures to surfperch in the wild. If surfperch bite each color equally then there is...
View ArticleFinding Fish: Do Tides Matter?
Redtail Surfperch, Amphistichus rhodoterus There aren’t a lot of ways to collect first hand information about surfperch in the surf zone. Boats can’t operate in the surf, scuba is out and handling a...
View ArticleComposition of the Catch
The image below is a screen cap of the cover page of what is probably my favorite surfperch paper. I’ve learned a ton about surfperch natural history from the material Darrell Pruden put together for...
View ArticleSampling Surfperch on the Incoming Tide
I’m always getting asked how several species of closely related small silvery surfperch can share sandy beaches without tripping over each other. How do they partition the surf zone? Do they eat...
View ArticleSurfperches Share Sandy Shores
Below are images of sandy beaches more or less occupied by the surfperches, Amphistichus rhodoterus and Hyperproson ellipticum, year around. All of the photos were taken at low tide and the views are...
View ArticleClose Quarters: Redtail and Silver Surfperch Share the Surf
Redtail surfperch, Amphistichus rhodoterus Redtail surfperch, Amphistichus rhodoterus, and silver surfperch, Hyperprosopon ellipticum, can be found year round on almost any exposed sandy beach between...
View ArticleA Redtail Surfperch Photo Shoot
Back in mid October I spent part of a day trying to get some new shots of one of my favorite surf zone fishes, the redtail surfperch, Amphistichus rhodoterus. I didn’t get a lot of redtail...
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