Kyphosus incisor
Yellow Chub
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Kyphosidae (Sea Chubs)
Kyphosus
Kyphosus incisor (Yellow Chub)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Oval in profile and moderately compressed, with a short head; nostril paired, and nares oblong; villiform teeth present on tongue; gill rakers on first gill arch number 6 to 8 on upper limb and 19 to 22 on lower limb; measurements (% SL): head length 28%–29%, snout length 8%–10%, eye diameter 7%–8%, upper jaw length 5%–9%, pectoral fin length 17%–18%, body depth 45%–46%; pectoral fin has 18 to 20 rays; dorsal fin has 11 spines and 13 to 15 rays; anal fin has 12 or 13 rays; caudal fin is forked; lateral line scales number 54 to 62; rayed sections of dorsal fin and other fins are densely covered with small scales.
Dusky bluish, with bright, brassy yellow lines along scale rows; opercular membrane is slightly pigmented; juveniles have large whitish spots on body; yellow-edged whitish streak below eye; longitudinal brassy stripes on body.
Distribution
Cape Cod and Bermuda to Brazil, including the entire Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
Habitat Associations
Tropical and warm temperate Atlantic; associated with rocky bottoms and coral reefs; depth range not specified.
Juveniles often occur in floating Sargassum rafts.
Biology
Food consists mostly of benthic algae and Sargassum.
Maximum known size is 670 mm TL.
Inhabits shallow waters, especially over rocky bottoms in coral reef areas; also among floating Sargassum weeds (Ref. 3725). Feeds on algae including much Sargassum (Ref. 5521). Marketed fresh (Ref. 3725).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous (Ref. 101771).
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: Low (Assuming tm>4).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Moore 1962
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Randall 1968a
Randall 1996
Sonnier et al. 1976
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Cervigón 1993a
Cervigón 1993b
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Carpenter 2002c
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Tortonese, E. (1986) Kyphosidae. p. 912-913. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. vol. 2. 492 p.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Carpenter, K.E. (2003) Kyphosidae. Sea chubs. p. 1684-1689. In K.E. Carpenter (ed.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals.
Tiralongo, F. and D. Tibullo (2013) First record of Pomadasys incisus (Bowdich, 1825), (Pisces: Haemulidae) for the Italian Ionian Sea and consideration about its fast spread. pp. 474-475. In Gianguzza, P., Giglio, G., Gökoğlu, M., Gürlek, M., Ikhtiyar, S., Kabasakal, H., Karachle, P.K., Katsanevakis, S., Koutsogiannopoulos, D., Lanfranco, E., Micarelli, P., Özvarol, Y., Peña-Rivas, L., Poursanidis, D., Saliba, J., Sperone, E., Tibullo, D., Tiralongo, F., Tripepi, S., Turan, C., Vella, P., Yokeş, M.B. and B. Zava. New Mediterranean Marine Biodiversity Records. Mediterranean Marine Science, 14(2): 463-480.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Watson, W. (1996) Kyphosidae: Sea chubs. p. 1038-1045. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505p.
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