Phanerodon furcatus
A silvery, fork-tailed fish spotted rarely along California's kelp reefs, comfortable in cool 10-18C water year-round.
Slim, silvery-bodied fish with a slightly humped forehead and a distinctly forked tail, growing to around 22cm. The body is compressed side-to-side with faint dusky fin edges but no bold stripes or bright patches to key on. Look for the plain, unmarked silver flanks and the way it holds close to structure rather than swimming in the open.
Divers typically find it holding near rocky structure or kelp rather than out in open water, moving with unhurried, steady swimming rather than darting. It's logged as rare at most California sites and only uncommon at one, so most divers who see it will get a brief, single encounter rather than a group or a repeat sighting on the same dive.
It's a member of the surfperch family, which is known for giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs, an unusual trait for a reef fish this size.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in the sighting data, and the observed temperature range of 10.3 to 18.0C spans much of California's diving calendar, so treat this as a year-round possibility rather than a seasonal target.
Logged exclusively at sites in California, United States, where it turns up along rocky reefs and kelp habitat. There isn't yet a wider spread of confirmed dive-site sightings outside California, so this is currently a California specialty for divers keeping a species list.
Mapping where White Surfperch is logged…
Sightings are concentrated in California, United States, particularly along rocky reef and kelp sites. There's no confirmed record yet from outside California in the current dive-site data.
There's no strong seasonal signal in the sighting data, and the species tolerates a wide temperature range from about 10 to 18C, so it can turn up on California dives at any time of year.
Look for a slim, silvery fish around 22cm long with a forked tail and no bold markings, usually seen close to rocky reef or kelp structure. Its plain silver body and steady, unhurried swimming help separate it from more patterned reef fish nearby.
They typically reach around 22cm in length, making them a modest-sized fish that blends easily against rocky reef backgrounds.
Like other surfperches, they give birth to live young instead of laying eggs, which is unusual among fish found on temperate rocky reefs.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Yellowtail Clownfish
3,523 sites
