Cobia facts

Dictionary of Fish : Fish Directory - reference guide to Cobia

Cobia	Rachycentron canadum

Facts about Cobia

Distributed Gulfwide, cobia are found from the major, high-salinity bays to waters 250 feet deep, although they have been observed in waters 4,000 feet deep. Cobia can be found both deep and at the surface. They are strongly attracted to floating debris, seaweed rips, channel markers, buoys and bells, offshore oil and gas platforms, and even floating sea turtles.
Cobia have brown backs, a darker stripe extending the length of their sides, and are white beneath. They have several small finlets ahead of their dorsal fin. When viewed from above, they appear distinctly shark-like. Very young cobia are darker and look remarkably like a sharksucker.
Cobia are not bashful feeders, chasing down food from the top to the bottom of the sea. They seem to especially prefer crabs. Cobia raised in captivity will not grow well unless they are fed some crabs and research indicates that over 70% of their diet is made up of swimming crabs, such as the blue crab. Researchers have found very few shrimp in their stomachs, but fin fish were important. By far the most common were hardhead catfish, followed by eels, and then round scad. As cobia grow larger, a greater percentage of their diet is made up of fin fish. Feeding seems to slow at lower water temperatures.