Shiner Surfperch (Cymatogaster aggregata) in Southcentral Alaska

Observation by Ricky Kompkoff:

This fish was caught in a school of herring and there seem to be quite a few of them. We have never seen this fish around our community waters before.

Tom Okey with Ocean Integrity Research writes:

That, my friend, is a shiner surfperch (Cymatogaster aggregata). This observation is way north of the species’ estimated native range, which doesn't extend north of Glacier Bay. This means that this nearshore demersal fish, which I used to commonly see while diving in Monterey Bay, is about 700 km up the outer Alaskan coast from the northernmost extent of its native range (measured with Google Earth). The AquaMaps projected year 2100 native range places them as far north as Prince William Sound -- but this ain't 2100, so that fish is there a few decades early. That's the thing about science, though; we need real data to ‘ground truth’ our models. This observation by Ricky Komkoff is a certain data point. The AquaMaps point map lists a couple of ‘non-good’ points, but this one from Prince William Sound (PWS) is a good one (maybe I’ll have to revise my PWS model). I am copying my colleague William Cheung who is behind the modelling for those AquaMaps projections, as I know he'll be interested. If you look at the C. aggregata map on iNaturalist, you will see that the very few observations of this species north of Nanaimo, BC were made during the last couple of years, but the absence of iNaturalist observations of fish means even less than the absence of observations of terrestrial species (the presence of observations depends on the observability of the species and the density of people). The NMFS/NOAA Fisheries folks at the Alaska Fisheries Science Centre would have data on these fish as well. Mike asked about a recipe. You can cook surfperch any way -- BBQ, campfire, pan, spices, etc. There are recipes online. Shiners are a bit smaller than other surfperch, but they tend to aggregate in schools, so maybe Alaskans can catch them with cast nets like in the tropics.

Comments from LEO Editors:

This observation was forwarded to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Invasive Species Program.

Shiner surfperch (Cymatogaster aggregata) are found from Baja California in the south, to the waters of Southeast Alaska in the north. They are approximately 7 inches in length and are commonly found in more shallow water (approximately 50-feet deep) near docks, piers, or other infrastructure. Source: Aquarium of the Pacific, Shiner Surfperch Species Profile