Guerrero Coast · Pacific Mexico

Fish
of La Saladita.

Headland reef, open coast surf zone, and Río Petatlán estuary. Three distinct habitats. 180 species documented in iNaturalist. Roosterfish in the shore break. Moray and surgeonfish on the rocks. Snook in the lagoon mouth.

A note on the data

What the record shows, and what it doesn't.

Fish are systematically underrepresented in iNaturalist and GBIF. Anglers don't usually upload their catches. Recreational divers who photograph fish rarely submit to citizen-science databases. GBIF returned zero records for this bounding box on this build date — a database-coverage gap, not an absence of fish. iNaturalist has 1,436 observations and 180 species for the 50 km study area, contributed almost entirely by snorkelers and reef photographers, which means the headland reef is documented and the open coast and estuary are not.

This catalog combines what is documented with regional knowledge from FishBase and WoRMS. Species marked "Regional knowledge" are credibly present based on biogeographic range and local expertise — they just haven't been uploaded to a public database yet.
1,436 iNat observations 50 km radius, all time
180 documented species iNaturalist, species-level
0 GBIF records bounding box, this build
28 species catalogued here iNat + regional knowledge
Headland reef
Open coast
Lagoon & estuary
Pelagic / offshore
Field guide
Photo field guide

Species you're likely to see at Saladita

Game fish (what people fish for)

Roosterfish (Nematistius pectoralis) Pez gallo Roosterfish Nematistius pectoralis Signature inshore game fish
Pacific Crevalle Jack (Caranx caninus) Jurel toro Pacific Crevalle Jack Caranx caninus Hard-fighting, pelagic
Dolphinfish (Mahi-mahi) (Coryphaena hippurus) Dorado Dolphinfish (Mahi-mahi) Coryphaena hippurus Offshore, fast-growing
Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) Atún aleta amarilla Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares Offshore pelagic
Pacific Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) Pez vela Pacific Sailfish Istiophorus platypterus Iconic billfish
Striped Marlin (Kajikia audax) Marlín rayado Striped Marlin Kajikia audax Migratory billfish
Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) Peto Wahoo Acanthocybium solandri Fast pelagic predator
Pacific Sierra (Scomberomorus sierra) Sierra Pacific Sierra Scomberomorus sierra Inshore mackerel, seasonal
Yellowtail Amberjack (Seriola lalandi) Jurel de Castilla Yellowtail Amberjack Seriola lalandi Inshore/reef edge

Reef & inshore

Yellow Snapper (Lutjanus argentiventris) Pargo amarillo Yellow Snapper Lutjanus argentiventris Reef snapper, common
Colorado Snapper (Lutjanus colorado) Pargo colorado Colorado Snapper Lutjanus colorado Rocky reefs
Mexican Hogfish (Bodianus diplotaenia) Vieja mexicana Mexican Hogfish Bodianus diplotaenia Colorful reef wrasse
King Angelfish (Holacanthus passer) Ángel real King Angelfish Holacanthus passer Striking reef angelfish
Razor Surgeonfish (Prionurus laticlavius) Cochinito Razor Surgeonfish Prionurus laticlavius Reef herbivore, schools
Cortez Damselfish (Stegastes rectifraenum) Castañeta de Cortés Cortez Damselfish Stegastes rectifraenum Tiny, territorial
Reef Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii) Pez corneta Reef Cornetfish Fistularia commersonii Long, thin, ambush predator

Estero, mangrove & surf zone

Black Snook (Centropomus nigrescens) Robalo prieto Black Snook Centropomus nigrescens Estero + surf-zone, predator
Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis) Robalo blanco Common Snook Centropomus undecimalis Estero, mangrove channels
Flathead Mullet (Mugil cephalus) Lisa Flathead Mullet Mugil cephalus Schools in shallows + estero
Pacific Flagfin Mojarra (Eugerres axillaris) Mojarra del Pacífico Pacific Flagfin Mojarra Eugerres axillaris Estero forager
Bonefish (Albula vulpes) Macabí Bonefish Albula vulpes Sand flats, prized by anglers

Photos via iNaturalist (CC-licensed observations from across the Mexican Pacific). Species grouped by where you'll encounter them. Saladita is a fishing village — many of the game fish above are landed daily on local pangas. Estero fish (snook, mojarra, bonefish) move between the lagoon and the surf zone with the tide.

Documented

Most-observed species
in iNaturalist.

These are the species most frequently photographed and uploaded within 50 km of La Saladita. They are disproportionately headland-reef species — that's where the divers are. Open-coast and estuarine species are under-represented regardless of actual abundance.

Counts sourced from the iNaturalist species_counts API, taxon_id 47178, radius 50 km, as of 2026-06-09. Live counts may differ.

Field guide

Species by habitat zone.

Cards are common-name-first. IUCN status shown where available. "Regional knowledge" = credibly present by biogeographic range; not yet in a public database for this study area.

Rocky point, boulder reef, and ledges at 2–15 m depth. This is the best-documented zone: most iNaturalist records come from snorkelers and divers along the Saladita headland and nearby rocky coast. Dominance of damselfishes, puffers, wrasses, and moray eels is consistent with shallow Eastern Pacific reef systems broadly.

Sandy beach shore break, adjacent rocky points, and the surf zone itself. Anglers fish this stretch daily from shore and panga — but fishing data rarely enters public databases. Species list here is the most incomplete of the three habitats relative to actual fish density.

Río Petatlán estuary and Laguna de Mitla (~10–15 km southeast). Mangrove margins, brackish channels, tidal flats. Black Snook and Fat Snook are the target species for estuary anglers. Introduced tilapia is established in freshwater reaches. Most species here are from FishBase regional records — almost none have been submitted to iNaturalist for this specific water body.

Open-water pelagic beyond the shelf. Accessible by panga from Petatlán town waterfront. Season peaks Jun–Nov for dorado and yellowfin. Local pangas run 20–40 km offshore for tuna. Saladita-area iNaturalist observations for offshore species are occasional — a few dorado and tuna photos from fishing trips.

Live data

Recent observations — iNaturalist.

Most recent fish observations uploaded to iNaturalist within 50 km of La Saladita. Low frequency is expected — this area is not a high-effort observation zone. Each card links to the original iNaturalist record.

Loading from iNaturalist…

Fetched live from iNaturalist API (taxon_id 47178, radius 50 km). Records include both Research Grade and Needs ID quality. Not all records are from Saladita beach specifically — the 50 km radius captures the broader Guerrero coast.

Citizen science

How to contribute to the record.

The fish catalog here will only improve if people start uploading observations. Snorkelers, spearfishers, surfers who watch the lineup, and anyone fishing the estuary can contribute meaningfully.

iNaturalist — Seek App

Photograph any fish and upload via iNaturalist. The Seek app identifies species from photos in real time without needing a cell signal. Research Grade = two agreeing IDs. Even Needs ID records add location data.

Seek app →

iNaturalist Project

Tag your observations with the La Saladita area when submitting. You can also search iNaturalist for nearby observations and add identifications to help move records to Research Grade.

View existing fish obs →

Fishing records

If you fish the estuary or offshore pangas, a photo of your catch uploaded to iNaturalist with GPS location adds real data to a gap. Dorado, roosterfish, snook, and snapper are all documentable this way. You don't need to release the fish to take a photo first.

Actinopterygii on iNat →
Catch data — what the fishermen know

The fishing village context —
what's actually caught.

La Saladita sits in the Petatlán municipality of Guerrero — a working fishing coast. Local pangas run daily from the beach and the Petatlán town waterfront. What they bring back is almost entirely absent from iNaturalist and GBIF. Federal fisheries statistics fill this gap at the state level.

Game fish and offshore pelagics are ~100% missing from iNat and GBIF because anglers and commercial fishermen don't upload. Roosterfish, sailfish, dorado, and yellowfin tuna are actively caught off this coast but have near-zero citizen-science records for this area. Federal catch statistics (CONAPESCA) fill this gap at the state level. Port-level data for Petatlán specifically is harder to find and requires direct fieldwork.

Guerrero state catch — the numbers.

8,552 tonnes live weight Guerrero state total, 2021
MXN $319M commercial value 2021 (USD ~$17M at 2021 rates)
14th national rank by volume + value, 2021
>90% artisanal fleet state fleet almost entirely small-boat

Guerrero ranked 14th nationally in 2021 with 8,552 tonnes of live-weight production. A 2014 peak of 14,855 tonnes (MXN $345M) reflects both higher effort and the period before COVID disruptions. The state fleet is almost entirely artisanal — no industrial trawl fleet is based here. Small-boat pangas (pangas ribereñas) dominate every landing site from Acapulco to La Unión.

Data year: 2021. Source: CONAPESCA Anuario Estadístico de Acuacultura y Pesca (annual federal fisheries report), cited via Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Desarrollo Rural de Guerrero (campoguerrero.gob.mx, 2023). 2022–2023 totals are in CONAPESCA PDF annuarios — not yet extracted from scanned tables in this build.

Top species by volume — Guerrero coast.

Ranking confirmed from IMIPAS "La pesca ribereña de Guerrero" (2017) and Secretaría de Agricultura Guerrero state fisheries reports. Exact per-species tonnes require manual extraction from CONAPESCA table PDFs — flagged as not yet available. Year of data: 2017–2021.

Mojarra

Gerres spp. / Diapterus spp. (marine); Oreochromis spp. (freshwater "tilapia/mojarra") Gerreidae / Cichlidae
Rank 1 by volume Federal catch data

Consistently the highest-volume species in Guerrero fisheries. Mexican statistics group marine mojarra (yellowfin mojarra, Gerres simillimus; Peruvian mojarra, Diapterus peruvianus) with freshwater tilapia under the "mojarra" category. Guerrero ranks 3rd nationally in freshwater mojarra/tilapia production. Present in the Río Petatlán estuary and nearshore beach seine fisheries.

Source: IMIPAS pesca ribereña de Guerrero (2017); Secretaría de Agricultura Guerrero (2021 data). Exact tonnes in CONAPESCA Anuario — not text-extractable in this build.

Lisa / mullet

Mugil curema, Mugil cephalus Mugilidae
Rank 2 by volume Federal catch data

Second-highest volume. Mullet is a low-cost high-quantity species taken by beach seine and cast net in estuary mouths, lagoon entrances, and along the beach. The Guerrero coast — mojarra, lisa, and huachinango — is the state's top-three combination consistently cited in CONAPESCA state data. Present in Laguna de Mitla and Río Petatlán estuary year-round.

Source: Secretaría de Agricultura Guerrero (gob.mx); IMIPAS pesca ribereña de Guerrero (2017).

Huachinango / Pacific red snapper

Lutjanus peru, L. colorado Lutjanidae
Rank 3 by volume / Rank 1 by value 5th nationally Federal catch data

Guerrero ranks 5th nationally in huachinango production — high unit value makes it the state's most economically important single species. Taken on hook-and-line from panga, handline from rocky points, and by longline from cooperative boats. Lutjanus peru dominates the Pacific Mexican south coast; L. colorado also present. The El Cayacal and Japutica landing sites in Petatlán municipality specifically list huachinango as a primary landing species.

Source: CONAPESCA Programa Maestro Estatal Huachinango Guerrero (cadenasproductivas.conapesca.gob.mx); Secretaría de Agricultura Guerrero (2021); IMIPAS 2017 (landing site data).

Sierra / Pacific Spanish mackerel

Scomberomorus sierra Scombridae
Rank 4 by volume Federal catch data

Fast-moving nearshore pelagic. Sierra is an important daily-catch species for artisanal pangas working the open coast. Taken by trolling, cast net near baitfish schools, and handline. Aggregates nearshore Jan–Apr during cooler upwelling months. Present in the surf zone and accessible from the beach at Saladita — 3 iNaturalist observations confirm its presence in the 50 km study area, making it the only top-5 commercial species with even minimal citizen-science documentation locally.

Source: IMIPAS pesca ribereña de Guerrero (2017); Fischer et al. (1995) FAO Eastern Central Pacific Species Guide; 3 iNat observations for this study area.

Cazón / small shark spp.

Mustelus lunulatus, Carcharhinus spp., Sphyrna tiburo Carcharhinidae / Triakidae / Sphyrnidae
Rank 5 by volume Federal catch data

"Cazón" in Mexican fisheries statistics groups multiple small shark species — smooth-hound (Mustelus), small whaler sharks (Carcharhinus), and bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo). Sold as "cazón en tiras" (shark strips) — a staple of coastal seafood markets. Taken by longline, net, and handline from panga. Mentioned alongside lisa, jurel, pargo, and pez vela in accounts of Guerrero coastal fishers' daily catch composition.

Source: IMIPAS pesca ribereña de Guerrero (2017); Secretaría de Agricultura Guerrero fisheries press releases.

Langosta / Pacific spiny lobster

Panulirus gracilis Palinuridae
High value — rank 2 by value 5th nationally — >300 t Federal catch data

Guerrero ranks 5th nationally in spiny lobster production with over 300 tonnes (2021 data). High unit value makes lobster a major revenue driver despite modest volume. Diving cooperatives harvest from rocky reef habitats — the same headland reef environment documented by iNaturalist snorkelers at Saladita. Season is regulated, typically October–February. Barra de Potosí and El Cayacal (Petatlán municipality) explicitly list lobster in their landing-species rosters.

Source: Secretaría de Agricultura Guerrero (gob.mx, 2021 data: "estamos en quinto lugar a nivel nacional con más de 300 toneladas de langosta"); IMIPAS pesca ribereña de Guerrero (2017).

Pacific Mexico pelagics — IATTC context.

IATTC data covers the full Eastern Pacific Ocean — no Guerrero-specific breakdown. These are EPO-wide numbers that provide the regional context for what is seasonally accessible by panga from Petatlán.

299K tonnes yellowfin tuna Eastern Pacific, 2023
292K tonnes yellowfin tuna Eastern Pacific, 2022
Jun–Nov dorado peak season Guerrero coast

Yellowfin tuna runs 19–20% above its 5–10 year average in 2022–2023, meaning the Guerrero offshore zone is seeing above-average tuna presence. Dorado (Coryphaena hippurus) and Pacific sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) are important EPO fisheries that interact with the tuna fleet. Local pangas run 20–40 km offshore from Petatlán town waterfront for tuna and dorado during the June–November season. Wahoo and striped marlin are occasional offshore targets.

Billfish note: Recreational catches of sailfish and marlin are substantially less than commercial interaction but are widely released — sport fishing data for Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo confirms year-round presence with peak Jun–Nov. These are entirely absent from CONAPESCA data (recreational catch is not reported) and from iNaturalist (anglers don't upload).

Source: IATTC Report No.22-2024 "The Tuna Fishery in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in 2023" (iattc.org); IATTC Report No.21-2023 (2022 data).

Petatlán–Zihuatanejo corridor — the local fleet.

The IMIPAS "La pesca ribereña de Guerrero" study (Instituto Mexicano de Investigación en Pesca y Acuacultura Sustentables, 2017) documented landing sites along the full Guerrero coast. In the Petatlán municipality specifically:

3 landing sites Petatlán municipality
~32 documented pangas Barra de Potosí (25) + La Barrita (2) + El Cayacal (5)
3 landing sites in Zihuatanejo Playa Linda, Las Salinas, Playa Principal

The three Petatlán landing sites document a multispecific artisanal fishery: huachinango, pargo, jurel, croaker, octopus, and lobster. Barra de Potosí — a well-known lagoon 5 km southeast of Saladita — operates 25 pangas from one cooperative plus two individual permit holders. INAPESCA began a logbook program in Zihuatanejo and La Unión (~2018) to start measuring catch-per-unit-effort for the first time; prior to that, no systematic CPUE data existed for the Guerrero artisanal fleet.

Source: IMIPAS "La pesca ribereña de Guerrero" (imipas.gob.mx PDF, 2017). Landing-site counts as of survey date.

What the data still can't tell you.

Structural gaps in fisheries data for this region:
  • Most CONAPESCA data is state-level. Port-level data for Petatlán specifically is not publicly disaggregated in federal annual tables.
  • Small-scale (artisanal) fisheries are structurally undercounted in Mexico. Sea Around Us (Cisneros-Montemayor et al. 2015, UBC) estimates unreported catch at 20–40% above official CONAPESCA figures nationally. Pangas landing on beach rather than registered docks, self-reporting with weak enforcement.
  • Sport fishing and recreational angling — roosterfish, dorado, sailfish, marlin from Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo charter pangas — contribute zero to CONAPESCA statistics and zero to iNaturalist. The most-sought game fish are completely invisible to federal data systems.
  • IATTC data covers the full Eastern Pacific. No Guerrero state or Petatlán port breakdown is disaggregated.
  • CPUE trend data for Guerrero artisanal fleet began only ~2018 (INAPESCA logbook program). Trend analysis not yet publicly available in aggregate form.

See /conservation/ for fishery sustainability and bycatch context — including sea turtle interactions in Pacific Mexico gillnet fisheries. See /turtles/ for bycatch overlap between Hawaii longline fisheries and Mexican Pacific gillnet operations where olive ridley and leatherback overlap with commercial fishing zones off this coast.

Methodology & sources

Where this data comes from.

iNaturalist

Species counts fetched from the iNaturalist API (observations/species_counts) for taxon_id 47178 (class Actinopterygii), 50 km radius centered on La Saladita (lat 17.5897°N, lon -101.4317°W). 1,436 total observations, 180 species-level taxa, as of 2026-06-09. Live recent observations fetched from observations endpoint sorted by observed_on desc. iNaturalist API documentation.

GBIF

Queried GBIF occurrence search API (taxonKey 204, class Actinopterygii) for bounding box lat 17.36–17.82, lon -101.68–-101.18. Returned 0 records on the 2026-06-09 build. The comma-range filter for decimalLatitude/decimalLongitude did not match records in this dataset. iNaturalist is the sole documented database source for this area. GBIF Occurrence API.

FishBase

Taxonomic and ecological data (habitat, depth range, max length, distribution) for catalogued species sourced from FishBase (Froese & Pauly, Eds., FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org). IUCN Red List status pulled from FishBase species pages (which mirror IUCN Red List assessments). FishBase REST API at fishbase.ropensci.org returned 404 during this build; status confirmed via FishBase.se species pages.

WoRMS

World Register of Marine Species used for taxonomic cross-reference and family-level classification of marine species. marinespecies.org. Estuarine and freshwater species not indexed in WoRMS sourced from FishBase and Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer et al.).

Regional knowledge

Species marked "Regional knowledge" are documented in peer-reviewed literature and field guides as present in the Mexican Pacific coastal zone (specifically the Guerrero–Michoacán corridor) but are not represented in the iNaturalist or GBIF study-area datasets as of this build. Sources: Castro-Aguirre et al. (1999) Ictiofauna Estuarino-Lagunar y Vicaria de México; Fischer et al. (1995) FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes: Eastern Central Pacific (FAO); Robertson & Allen (2015) Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific Online (STRI, Smithsonian).

CONAPESCA (federal fisheries statistics)

Annual Anuario Estadístico de Acuacultura y Pesca published by CONAPESCA (Comisión Nacional de Acuacultura y Pesca). State-by-species catch tables; Guerrero rows used for state totals. 2021 figure (8,552 t live weight, MXN $319,682,463) cited via Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Desarrollo Rural de Guerrero (campoguerrero.gob.mx, 2023). 2022–2023 figures are in CONAPESCA PDFs available at nube.conapesca.gob.mx — tables are scanned images in older editions and require manual extraction; not yet automated. Species-level rankings and national-rank positions from CONAPESCA Programa Maestro Estatal Huachinango Guerrero (cadenasproductivas.conapesca.gob.mx).

IMIPAS — La pesca ribereña de Guerrero

Instituto Mexicano de Investigación en Pesca y Acuacultura Sustentables (formerly INAPESCA). "La pesca ribereña de Guerrero" — comprehensive landing-site survey of the Guerrero coast including cooperative counts, vessel counts, and species-by-landing-site data for Petatlán municipality (Barra de Potosí, La Barrita, El Cayacal). Published ~2017. Available at imipas.gob.mx and mirrored at gob.mx. ResearchGate: Aragón-Noriega et al. (doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.35905.89449). PDF cached locally.

IATTC (Eastern Pacific tuna + billfish)

Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission annual reports. Yellowfin tuna EPO 2022: 292,000 t; 2023: 299,000 t (19–20% above prior-period averages). Source: IATTC Report No.21-2023 (2022 data) and No.22-2024 (2023 data). iattc.org. Data covers full Eastern Pacific — no Guerrero state disaggregation available.

Sea Around Us — unreported catch reconstruction

Cisneros-Montemayor AM, Cisneros-Mata MA, Harper S, Pauly D (2015). "Unreported marine fisheries catch in Mexico, 1950–2010." Fisheries Centre Working Paper #2015-22, University of British Columbia. seaaroundus.org. Basis for 20–40% undercount estimate applied to Guerrero artisanal fisheries context.

Build artifacts

Climatology artifact: functions/api/_fish_climatology.js
Fisheries catch artifact: functions/api/_mx_fisheries_catch.js (26 KB; CONAPESCA + IMIPAS + IATTC data)
Rebuild scripts: scripts/build_fish_climatology.py and scripts/build_mx_fisheries_catch.py (stdlib-only, hard exit, /tmp cache)
API endpoint: /api/fish (Cloudflare Pages Function)