California sheephead
The California sheep head ("Semicossyphus pulcher") is a species of wrasse native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its range is from Monterey Bay, California, to the Gulf of California, Mexico. It can live for up to 20 years in favorable conditions and can reach a size of up to and a weight of . It is carnivorous, living in rocky reef and kelp bed habitats, feeding primarily on sea urchins, molluscs, and crustaceans.

All California sheephead are born female and morph into their male form at various stages in their lifecycle, determined by environmental conditions and pressures. Because of this, they are considered to be protogynous hermaphrodites which have planktonic larvae. Their coral and kelp-heavy habitat provides protection from predators, which is important as this species is diurnal, foraging during the day and seeking shelter at night.

The California sheephead is considered vulnerable due to high fishing rates off of the coast of southern California. Since fisheries tend to remove the largest fish, they end up removing the males. This skews the male-to-female ratio and affects the fishes' lifecycle, which can negatively affect populations.
Q7432
species
Concept
Q208722
wrasse
Concept
Q98
Pacific Ocean
LOC
Q584588
Monterey Bay
LOC
Q99
California
LOC
Q132811
Gulf of California
LOC
Q96
Mexico
LOC
Q81875
carnivorous
Concept
Q83483
sea urchin
Concept
Q25326
molluscs
Concept
Q25364
crustacean
Concept
Q1209454
protogynous hermaphrodites
Concept
Q4284186
diurnal
UNK
Q278113
vulnerable
Concept
Q601000
California sheephead
Concept
Q601000
California sheephead
Concept
+20^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
20
NUMBER
taxon rank
IUCN conservation status
country