Finescale triggerfish (Balistes polylepis), illustration

Sport fishing Balistes polylepis

Finescale triggerfish in Los Cabos

A bait thief with a locking spine and teeth that crush shells. The cochito lives on Cabo's rocky reefs all year, and in Baja it's the classic fish for ceviche.

Up to 76 cmMax length

16 lb 4 ozIGFA world record

All yearOn the rocky reefs

5 per dayLimit per angler

Season in Los Cabos

Jan●Feb●Mar●Apr●May●Jun●Jul●Aug●Sep●Oct●Nov●Dec●

●● best months · ● regular · · occasional. Based on local fishing reports; conditions change year to year.

Tap a month to see everything biting in Cabo that month ›

How to recognize it

A tall, flat, diamond-shaped fish, plain olive-brown to blue-grey with no markings, tough leathery skin, a fully scaled snout, a small mouth and long tips on the tail. The first dorsal spine can be locked upright.

Biology

Cochito live on rocky reefs, boulder slopes and nearby sand, from northern California to Chile, including the Gulf of California, the Galápagos and Hawaii. The young drift in open water before settling on the bottom as adults.

They eat sea urchins, crabs, shrimp, snails and other shellfish, tubeworms and some seaweed. Males build nests on the bottom; the female cares for the eggs while the male chases off intruders. In the Gulf of California this happens from May to October. Studies disagree on lifespan, with estimates from about 5 to 21 years.

Things you probably didn't know

The trigger

The first dorsal spine locks upright, held in place by the second spine, the "trigger". It only folds back when the trigger is pressed down.

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Swimming without the tail

Triggerfish swim mainly by rippling their dorsal and anal fins; the style is called "balistiform" after their family.

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Teeth that crush shells

Each jaw has eight heavy, notched teeth, strong enough to crack urchins and shells, and to wreck ordinary hooks.

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Parents split the work

The male builds and defends the nest; the female tends the eggs.

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An El Niño traveler

In the warm 1982–83 El Niño, large numbers were caught off southern California; in 2011 the first ones were recorded near San Quintín, Baja California.

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A Hawaiian record

The world record comes from Hawaii, not Mexico, and the species may be establishing a population there.

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Photos

Finescale triggerfish, photo 1 (La Paz, BCS) — Cricket Raspet · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Finescale triggerfish, photo 2 (La Paz, Baja California Sur) — Martin Purdy · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Finescale triggerfish, photo 3 (Bahía de Loreto, Loreto) — Andrew McKinlay · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Finescale triggerfish, photo 4 (La Paz, B.C.S.) — Zazil Dellamary · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Finescale triggerfish, photo 5 (El Vencedor, Cabo Pulmo) — tunicatedreamz · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Finescale triggerfish, photo 6 (Los Cabos, MX-BS) — iNaturalist contributor · iNaturalist · CC0

How it's caught in Los Cabos

Cochito are caught on the bottom near rocks with cut bait and chum. Use small but extra-strong hooks, because their teeth destroy ordinary ones, and expect to lose bait: they're famous bait thieves. They're around all year, including on the rocks near the Arch.

Chunks of black skipjack are considered one of the best baits for them.

On the table

White, mild, firm fillets with little fat. The skin is like leather, so it takes a sharp knife. In Baja California Sur it's above all a ceviche fish.

Rules, records & conservation

Daily limit (NOM-017-PESC-1994)	Up to 5 per angler per day, within the 10-fish total
IUCN Red List	Least Concern
IGFA all-tackle record	16 lb 4 oz (7.37 kg), Kaena Point, Oahu, Hawaii, 2013

Don't confuse it with

The orangeside triggerfish is dark above and yellow-orange below, with a yellow bar from the mouth. The redtail triggerfish has a crosshatch pattern and a red or yellow edge on the tail. The black durgon is black with a pale blue line along the fins. The blunthead triggerfish has light and dark bars.