Jacques Cousteau described the Sea of Cortéz in Baja Mexico as the “world’s aquarium” and the “Galapagos of North America.” The beach 1/2 a block from our villa is adjacent to a wonderful reef full of fish and flora. We can wade into shallow water, slip into a lagoon or dive off rock into ten feet or more of clear, blue water teeming with life.
We are the furthest thing from pros in identifying what are mostly reef fish below. We’ve done our best based on multiple sources, all of which can be found linked at the bottom. We’ve only identified what we’re somewhat assured of having seen – this represents a small percentage of the amazing amount of sea life present around the reefs.
Images are from a variety of personal sites, royalty-free sites, Flickr, etc and are linked where possible (tip: if you’re coming down to Baja Mexico to snorkel, bring a waterproof camera or a waterproof bag for your point-and-shoot). Feedback is most welcome – Contact Us. Hope you enjoy almost as much as we did!
| Fish We’ve Seen | ||
| Image | Name | Notes |
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Bullseye Puffer | Isla Coronado |
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Reef Cornetfish | Loreto Bay lagoon, photo taken from the bridge (5′ long, near a King Angelfish); small one on north side of reef |
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California Halibut | Loreto Bay lagoon, seen from the bridge |
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California Yellowtail | Loreto Bay reef, north side |
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Cortez Damselfish (Juvenile) | Loreto Bay reefs, shallow, protected water |
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Cortez Rainbow Wrasse (Juvenile) | Loreto Bay reefs, shallow, protected water |
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Graybar Grunt | Loreto Bay, everywhere |
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Hubbs’ Octopus | Loreto Bay lagoon, seen from the bridge (much less dead than this photo) |
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King Angelfish | Loreto Bay lagoon and reef |
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Mexican Hogfish | Loreto Bay, everywhere |
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Island Kelpfish | Loreto Bay, north side of reef |
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Panama Graysby | Loreto Bay, northeast side of reef. Around 12″ long. |
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Panamic Sergeant Major | Loreto Bay, everywhere. Large schools, inches away. |
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Bumphead Parrotfish | Loreto Bay, reef south of lagoon |
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Chocolate Chip Starfish | Loreto Bay, reefs south of the lagoon |
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Pyramid Starfish | Loreto Bay, reefs south of the lagoon |
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Sunflower Star | Loreto Bay, in tidepools around the reef |
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California Sea Cucumber | Loreto Bay, north side of reef. Tough to ID, might be an Orange Sea Cucumber, because it was smooth. |
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Bullseye Stingray | Loreto Bay, everywhere |
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Cortez Round Stingray | Loreto Bay, everywhere |
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Diamond Stingray | Loreto Bay, north side of reef |
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Round Stingray | Loreto Bay, everywhere |
| Fish We’ve Eaten | ||
| Image | Name | Notes |
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Cabrilla Sea Bass | very common, thin reddish fillet |
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Parrotfish | less common than cabrilla, goes quick at the pescador, makes great ceviche |
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California Yellowtail | Jorge at arturosport.com made a huge batch of ceviche |
| Fish We Thought We Saw Or Would Like To | ||
| Image | Name | Notes |
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Longnose Hawkfish | actually saw an Island Kelpfish |
Gratitude to multiple identification sources: MexFish.com, Animal-World.com, Reef.org, DiveBums.com, ElasmoDiver.com, ecology.org, Dive-The-World.com, OceanLight.com, FishBase.org, Pbase.com, SeaCortez.com