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Mexican Lookdown

The Mexican lookdown’s metallic body reflect like a mirror in the light — helping them camouflage in the open ocean!

 

The Mexican lookdown is a striking fish found in the eastern Pacific Ocean, mainly from southern California down to Ecuador and northern Peru. It inhabits shallow coastal waters, as well as estuaries, and intertidal areas. Its most distinctive feature is its dramatically compressed body, which appears very thin from head-on. From the side, however, it reveals a tall profile that gleams gold or silver with accents of metallic blue. Their fins are especially long on their back and belly, accentuating their tall, thin look. Their highly reflective bodies scatter light, helping them blend into the shimmering water column.

The Mexican lookdown often gathers in schools near the ocean bottom. It is an active predators, feeding on small fish, shrimp, and marine worms. In turn, they can fall prey to larger fish, including smooth hammerhead sharks.

 

 

As the Mexican lookdown is widespread and faces no known major threats, they are considered a species of “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List. However, they are frequently caught by artisanal fishers and sportfishers.

 

 

Because this fish is part of important commercial fisheries16, responsible fishing is important to ensure its population stays healthy and abundant. Oceana campaigns around the world to increase the number of fisheries with management plans and catch limits to ensure fisheries are properly managed and prevent overfishing. Learn more about our work and how you can help here.

 

 

Brady PC, Travis KA, Maginnis T and Cummings ME (2013) Polaro–cryptic mirror of the lookdown as a biological model for open ocean camouflage. PNAS 110(24): 9764-9769. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1222125110 

FishBase 

NOAA: National Marine Fisheries Service, Fishery Bulletin 

IUCN Red List 

Mason EJ, Gliniak H, Horning O, and Linardich C (2009) Occurence of juvenile Mexican lookdown Selene brevoortii (Gill, 1862) in Seal Beach, California. California Fish and Game 95(4): 188-192.  

Rosales-Casián JA (2017) Biological indicator of 2014-2015 warming conditions: Presence of the Mexican lookdown (Selene brevoortii), Pacific tripletail (Lobotes pacificus) and Cortez bonefish (Albula gilbertiI) in the temperate Eastern Pacific of Mexico. CalCOFI Rep 58: 105-112.  

Zhao S, Brady PC, Gao M, et al. (2015) Broadband and polarization reflectors in the lookdown, Selene vomer. J R Soc Interface 12(104): 20141390. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1390 

 

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