Marine Life

California Sheephead
(Semicossyphus pulcher)
Courtesy of Tom Haight

(Female)

(Male)

A large member of the wrasse family, the California Sheephead displays marked sexual dimorphism. The juvenile is dark red with a horizontal stripe down its side, while the female is pink with a white chin . The males also command attention with a large crest on its head, white chin and red and black markings. All sheephead are born females and turn into males due to environmental pressures or age, depending on which book you read. Males can grow to three feet in length and live to at least 50 years old. They possess strong teeth used to crush their prey which includes crabs, mussels, barnacles, worms and octopus. Sea lions, seals and Giant Sea Bass are among the sheephead's predators. Sheephead have been spotted as far north as Monterey but the bulk of the population lives from Point Conception southward to Baja California.