Senorita

Description:

little cigar-shaped orange fish with large black spots on their tails. Señoritas sport large scales, small mouths and protruding teeth that are ideal for picking bryozoans and hydroids from algae.

Habitat:

Located at the edge of the Catalina Casino building, the Casino Point Marine Park is Southern California's first city-designated underwater park. Established in 1965 by the City of Avalon as a reserve, Casino Point Marine Park has an abundance of marine life, giant kelp forests, and several shipwrecks to explore. Several artificial reefs have been established to provide additional habitats.

Notes:

Señoritas feed during the day. At night they search for a sandy bottom where they bury in the sand with only their heads exposed. When threatened by predators in the daytime, señoritas dart to the seafloor and hide by burrowing in the bottom sediment. Brandt’s cormorants and California sea lions prey on señoritas. Señoritas, unlike most wrasses, don’t change sex. Señoritas are known as "cleaner" fish. They pick external parasites and copepods from the skin of other fishes. Once a señorita starts cleaning, other fishes gather to be cleaned as well. But then the señorita loses interest, leaving disappointment in its wake.