Cortez Sea Chub

Kyphosus elegans has an oval, laterally compressed body with a small head and a pointed snout, the forehead slopes steeply in front of the eyes. The mouth is small and when closed the maxilla are partially hidden beneath the preorbital bones. The teeth are very characteristic and form a single row in the front of both jaws, they are incisiform and have a rather lanceolate shape, resembling the head of a hockey stick, they have compressed roots and they are set horizontally, creating a striated plate within the oral cavity, There are teeth on the vomer too. The dorsal fin is continuous, the front part contains 10-11 spines which can be folded into a groove which is covered in scales, the rear part has 13 soft rays. with the first few rays being higher than the rest. The anal fin has 2-3 spines and 12 soft with the longest rays being at the front and these are half the length of the base of the anal fin. The caudal fin is forked. Much of the body is covered in small, thick, rough scales except for a patch between the eyes. The lateral line contains 61-69 scales, of which 52-57 have pores. The body may be silvery in colour or it can be bronze or brown, they may also show a mottled pattern of white spots over the body. The mottle pattern is more commonly seen in fish demonstrating territorial behaviour. The tail is dusky. …

Kyphosus elegans is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California to Panama, it also occurs in the Galapagos, and other eastern Pacific islands.