''Kyphosus azureus'', the zebra-perch sea chub, zebra perch or zebra sea chub, is a
species of marine
ray-finned fish, a
sea chub from the
family Kyphosidae which is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean coasts of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
Description
''Kyhosus azureus'' has a moderately deep, compressed, oval body with a small head which has a pointed snout and a small, thickly lipped mouth. There is a continuous
dorsal fin which contains 11 spines, which can be folded down into a scaly furrow, and 9 soft rays. The spiny part of the dorsal fin is longer than thesoft-rayed part. The
anal fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...
has 3 spine and 10 The body is covered in thick, rough scales soft rays which are longer than those in the dorsal fin. The
caudal fin is forked and the
pelvic and
pectoral fins are small. The body is covered in small, rough scales except for the snout and between the eyes. The body has a pale khaki colour broken by 10 or so long brown vertical bars. It has a blue spot on the upper margin of the gill cover and a black spot underneath the base of the pectoral fin. The underparts are whitish.
This species attains a maximum
total length of .
[
]
Distribution
''Kyphosus azureus'' is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean where it is found from Monterey Bay in California to Baja California and into the Gulf of California where it is commonest in the northern and central parts of the gulf.[
]
Habitat and biology
''Kyphosus azureus'' is a shallow water species found in inshore areas down to depths of . Here it occurs on coastal rocky reefs and reef flats where there is growth of algae.[ The adults live in the subtidal zone and the juveniles in rock pools. It is a herbivorous species eating red, brown, and green algae. Juveniles behave as cleaner fish for the opaleye ('' Girella nigricans'') and ]shiner perch
The shiner perch (''Cymatogaster aggregata'') is a common surfperch found in estuaries, lagoons, and coastal streams along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California. It is the sole member of its genus. The shiner perch is also known as se ...
{''Cymatogaster aggregata'') They are often form mixed schools with halfmoon
The halfmoon (''Medialuna californiensis''), also known as the blue perch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea chub from the subfamily Scorpidinae, part of the family Kyphosidae. It is native to the coasts of the eastern Pacific Ocean ...
(''Medianluna californiensis'') Opaleye, and Pacific sergeant major (''Abudefduf troschelii''). At night this diurnal species hides in crevices.[
]
Taxonomy
''Kyphosus azureus'' was first formally described in 1889 by Oliver Peebles Jenkins and Barton Warren Evermann as ''Hermosilla azurea'' and they gave the type locality
Type locality may refer to:
* Type locality (biology)
* Type locality (geology)
See also
* Local (disambiguation)
* Locality (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
as Guaymas, Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
in western Mexico.synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
of '' Kyphosus''.
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q21274605, from2=Q1944845
azureus
Monotypic fish genera
Fish described in 1889
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN