Taxonomy

Rarity

Abundance rates how many are in suitable habitat. Find difficulty rates how hard it is to locate one on a daylight snorkel or freedive through 50 ft. A higher find score means a harder search. The rarity category also reflects the kind of encounter; it is not an average of the 2 scores.

Seasonality

Location

The lizardfish lives from San Francisco south to Cabo San Lucas and Guaymas, Mexico, and it has been reported as far north as British Columbia. It is common from Bahia Magdalena in Baja California Sur to Southern California. Most fish books list it as an uncommon catch, especially north of Point Conception, Santa Barbara, and it is rare north of San Francisco.

It is a sand fish. FishBase records it on sandy bottom, on sand patches around rocky reef, and on slopes scattered with boulders and gravel, usually from about 7 to 165 feet deep. Pier Fishing in California places most fish between 5 and 150 feet, with a record at 751 feet. It also turns up in bays, where anglers catch it from skiffs and kayaks.

Deep Dive

The fish looks like its name. The body is long and round in cross section, and the head is broad and flat like a lizard's, with a nearly triangular snout and a mouth full of large, sharp teeth. It is brown or greenish brown on top with a brassy shine on the sides, dark stripes along the lateral line (the row of sensory pores down each side that detects movement in the water), and fine lines crossing from the lateral line to the back. The belly is light gray, and the lower jaw and fins are yellow. Young fish carry a row of blue diamonds along each side. Anglers also call it the gar, the barracuda and the candlefish. The species grows to about 25 inches and 4 pounds, though a typical fish is about a foot long.

It hunts by ambush. A lizardfish sits motionless on the sand with its body tilted up on its fins, waiting for prey to pass. When something comes close it darts out at high speed, grabs it with those teeth and swallows it in one gulp. It feeds on small fish and squid, and it is active by day. It can also bury itself in the sand with only its eyes and mouth showing.

The lizardfish is an odd member of its order. Nearly all of its relatives are deep-sea fishes, including the lancetfishes, the barracudinas and the sabertooths, and lizardfishes are the one group that lives inshore, though even a few lizardfish species live in deep water.

Spawning begins in summer and peaks in fall. The eggs and larvae drift in the plankton for a long time before the young settle to the bottom, and larvae are most abundant from September to November.

Anglers mostly catch lizardfish by accident while fishing the bottom for something else. The fish hits almost any bait that is kept moving. A small lizardfish makes good live bait for California halibut, another predator that waits on the sand, and Ken Jones reports that a halibut tournament was won on one. In San Diego Bay in July 2013 a 40-pound giant sea bass took a lizardfish used as bait and was released.

The meat is white, slightly flaky and bony, and it is usually fried, though it can also be baked or grilled. Opinions on it differ. Some anglers say it is good eating, and others report a strong fishy smell and a taste of iodine. California counts it toward the general bag limit: no more than 10 per person per day, as part of a total of 20 finfish, with no size limit and no closed season. Take is prohibited inside state marine reserves.

Where to Find Them

Researched habitat and range candidates

These locations have suitable habitat within the species range. An assignment is a possible encounter, not a confirmed sighting at every beach. Season, depth, and local conditions still matter. Historical habitat without present-day evidence is excluded.