Fish Identification Photos: Cortez Chub, Kyphosus elegans: This fish may be characterized by a uniform, mottled appearance without significant stripes, which if present may be faint brown. Alternatively, the Cortez Chub may also appear quite similar to the Striped Sea Chub or Blue Bronze Sea Chub, Kyophosus analogous, with almost identical horizontal brown stripes. However, the Cortez Chub has a more prominent, deeper anal fin, and it also displays an alternate color pattern of polka dots as shown in these photos. (Compare with the Striped Sea Chub.)

The Cortez Chub is a member of the Kyphosidae or Sea Chub, Nibbler, and Halfmoon Family. The Cortez Chub is a member of the subfamily Kyphosinae or rudderfish named after their habit of following ships at sea.

The Cortez Chub is found on both coasts of Baja California, Mexico, on the Pacific side from Magdalena Bay southwards, and throughout the Sea of Cortez coast and mainland Mexico, including all offshore islands. The Cortez Chub swims in large schools along shallow rocky shores, and is found in the upper 75 feet of the water column.

Other chub-like species found in Mexican waters include: the Striped Sea Chub or Blue Bronze Sea Chub, Kyphosus analogous; the California Halfmoon, Medialuna californiensis; the Rainbow Sea Chub, Sectator ocyurus; and the Zebra Sea Chub, Hermosilla azurea.

The Cortez Chub is reported to reach 15 inches in length and 2.5 pounds in weight. It has a primarily herbivorous diet, but also feeds on plankton and benthic invertebrates.

The fish identified as Cortez Chubs here are shown here in two color phases which seem to be virtually negative images of each other, but both of which display the polka dot pattern described by Gerald R. Allen and D. Ross Robertson in Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific: "...can quickly assume pattern of numerous eye-sized white spots."