Cubbyu, Pareques umbrosus
Cubbyu, Pareques umbrosus. Fish caught out from coastal waters off Big Pine Key, Florida, April 2020. Length: 16.4 cm (6.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Cubbyu, Pareques umbrosus. Fish caught out from coastal waters off Anna Maria Island, Florida, March 2015. Length: 17.8 cm (7.0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
The Cubbyu, Pareques umbrosus, is a member of the Croaker or Sciaenidae Family, and is known in Mexico as payasito prieto. There are seven global members of the genus Pareques, of which five are found Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.
The Cubbyu has a deep oblong moderately compressed body with a strongly arched back. They have a silvery gray-brown coloration that varies significantly with maturity. Adults are uniformly colored with many thin black stripes. Juveniles are white with black stripes, a black bar on their dorsal and pelvic fins, an oval black ring on their snout, and transparent pectoral fins. Their head has a snout that overhangs a horizontal mouth and large eyes. They are equipped with a band of teeth; the teeth on the outer row of their lower jaw are enlarged and canine-like. Their anal fin has 2 spines, the second being slender, and 7 rays; their caudal fin is rounded; and, their first dorsal fin has 9 or 10 spines and is higher than the second; the second dorsal fin has 1 spine and 38 to 40 rays and a long base. They have 15 to 18 short and slender gill rakers. They are covered with rough scales. Their lateral line extends to the center of the caudal fin.
The Cubbyu is found within rocky reef habitats and adjacent sandy and muddy bottoms at depths up to 107 m (350 feet). They reach a maximum 20.0 cm (7.9 inches) in length. The Cubbyu is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Cubbyu is a resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean being found throughout the Gulf of Mexico; they are absent from along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.
Adult Cubbyu is a straightforward identification and cannot be confused with any other species. Juveniles, however, are very similar to the Blackbar Drum, Pareques iwamotoi (broad bars across eyes), the High-Hat, Pareques acuminatus (three to five broad stripes with narrow stripes in between), the Jackknife-Fish, Equetus lanceolatus (elongated dorsal fins anteriorly), and the Spotted Drum, Equetus punctatus (spotted anal, caudal, and dorsal fins).
From a conservation perspective the Cubbyu is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are too small in stature and too rare to be of interest to most.