Grey sea chub

About this species

Kyphosus bigibbus, the brown chub, grey drummer, darkfin drummer, insular rudderfish, grey chub, grey sea chub, southern drummer or topsail drummer is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea chub from the family Kyphosidae. It is a herbivorous species which is found in subtropical and tropical seas worldwide.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Kyphosus bigibbus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 23 records
February: 44 records
March: 27 records
April: 50 records
May: 68 records
June: 25 records
July: 33 records
August: 23 records
September: 34 records
October: 37 records
November: 26 records
December: 69 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–10 m · Deepest record: 33 m

0–10 m: 190 records
10–20 m: 15 records
20–30 m: 6 records
30–40 m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 17–29 °C

16–18 °C: 20 records
18–20 °C: 16 records
20–22 °C: 76 records
22–24 °C: 29 records
24–26 °C: 212 records
26–28 °C: 25 records
28–30 °C: 11 records

Photos

(c) Rosie Steinberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) amfstocker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Belinda Forbes, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) amfstocker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Grey sea chub, Brown Chub, Brown chub, Grey chub, Grey sea chub, Darkfin Drummer, Drummers, Gray Chub, Gray Rudderfish, Gray Seachub, Grey Chub, Grey Drummer, grey sea chub, Insular Rudderfish, Rudderfish, Sea Chub, Silvery-Grey Perch, Southern Drummer, Stone Bream, striped drummer, Topsail Drummer

Names in 2 more languages

French: Petit wiwa
Japanese: Notoisuzumi, ノトイスズミ

Other scientific names: Dorsuarius nigrescens, Kiphosus bigibbus, Kyphosus biggibus, Kyphosus bosquii, Kyphosus fuscus, Pimelepterus boscii, Pimelepterus bosquii, Pimelepterus fallax, Pimelepterus fuscus, Pimelopterus fuscus, Xyster fuscus

Similar species

Blue sea chub
Kyphosus cinerascens
Bermuda chub
Kyphosus sectatrix
Buffalo Bream
Kyphosus sydneyanus
Brassy chub
Kyphosus vaigiensis
Cornel's Drummer
Kyphosus cornelii
Pacific Chub
Kyphosus pacificus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
905 open-data records from 1917 to 2023.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.