totoaba

plural totoabas · alternative totuava

1. The marine fish Totoaba macdonaldi, the largest member of the drumfish family Sciaenidae, endemic to the Gulf of California, Mexico.

   In the northern Gulf of California, fishermen report that totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) are being caught illegally around shallow-water hydrothermal vents.

   2009, Matthew J. Forrest, Jorge Ledesma-Vázquez, “12: Active Geothermal Springs and Pliocene-Pleistocene Examples”, in Markes E. Johnson, Jorge Ledesma-Vázquez, editors, Atlas of Coastal Ecosystems in the Western Gulf of California, page 155

   4 more examples

   In 1985, seven vaquitas were caught in gill nets being used by Mexican fishermen to catch totoabas (a species of large sea bass), the major commercial species.

   1991, Laura O'Biso Socha, Endangered Species of the World, Mallard Press, page 74

   However, porpoises are also caught in other fishing gear, and there is concern that effort will be re-directed from catching totoabas to catching large sharks and rays in nets that threaten vaquitas (cf. Vidal 1993).

   1994, Randall R. Reeves, Stephen Leatherwood, Dolphins, Porpoises, and Whales: 1994-1998 Action Plan for the Conservation of Cetaceans, page 47

   2002 October, Implementation Agreement, Inadvertent Overrun and Payback Policy, and Related Federal Actions, Volume 2: Appendices, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, page G-41, Totoaba are the largest of the sciaenid fish, with a maximum reported weight of over 100 kg and a length of over 2 meters (Flanagan and Hendrickson 1976).

   After the first year, the totoaba spends most of its adult life in the deep waters of the Gulf of California. The totoaba can grow up to 2 meters in length and weigh 140 kilograms (Morrison, Postel and Gleick 1996, 23).

   2003, Suzanne Michel, “The Geography of Water Transfers and Urbanization in Baja and Southern California”, in Linda Fernandez, Richard T. Carson, editors, Both Sides of the Border: Transboundary Environmental Management Issues Facing Mexico and the United States, page 210