Chemical contaminant compounds found in the southern California coastal environment were measured in resident English sole (Parophrys vetulus), including polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Hepatic concentrations of these compounds were measured in the same animals in which cortisol responsiveness (a measure of the stress response endocrine system) was quantified. Correlation analyses identified three compounds that were significantly associated with endocrine response: PCB 126, naphthalene, 1-methylphenanthrene. The results of this study also importantly point toward exclusion of many chemicals, such as PBDEs that exhibited significant variation among fish, but had no detectable direct relationship to responsiveness of the stress endocrine system.