Texas Gulf Coast Fishing

Lizardfish

Inshore Lizardfish Synodus foetens:

Identification: The Lizardfish color is typically shades of brown to olive dorsally, yellow to white ventrally. Young fish have sides that are darkly mottled; these blotches fade in older fishes. They are round in cross-section and very slender. They have very pointed heads and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Several species of lizardfish occur in the Gulf of Mexico. Lizardfish are voracious predators that feed by lying on or partially buried in the bottom and darting upward to grab their prey.
Where Found: INSHORE and OFFSHORE, on sand and mud bottoms, out to about 150 feet deep. They are found in a wide variety of habitat types ranging from open ocean habitats over the continental shelf, shallow and deep sand flats among seagrass, and inshore in saltwater creeks, rivers, bays, sounds, and deep channels within lagoons. They are solitary predators that probably are denser over mud bottoms than shell or calcareous bottoms because they burrow into bottom sediments.
Size: Usually under 16 inches
Food Value: None