Identification Help
Jul 30, 2012 11:07:31 #
I was in diving in Bonaire last week and got some great pictres. I've identified most of the fish, but I need help with this shot. Can anyone identify the common fish shown here? Both the large fish and the chold of yellow stripes beneath. Thanks!
Jul 31, 2012 20:53:58 #
Aug 1, 2012 07:38:11 #
Thank you! Any idea what the school under the schoolmaster is? They are very common, have a yellow tail, and a single yellow strip running from the tail to the eye.
Aug 12, 2012 00:24:45 #
Aug 12, 2012 02:45:17 #
Yaro, Thanks for your help. Since I posted this, I have purchased the great Humann and DeLoach book called Reef Fish Identification. Based on it, I think the fish are Yellowtail Snappers. See shot enlcosed.
Aug 12, 2012 08:37:40 #
Jas wrote:
Yaro, Thanks for your help. Since I posted this, I have purchased the great Humann and DeLoach book called Reef Fish Identification. Based on it, I think the fish are Yellowtail Snappers. See shot enlcosed.
The common name of this fish the larger one is the French Grunt, a very common Caribbean fish. Now the other smaller ones are the Yellow Tail Snappers. Always good to get a book, helps you to narrow down the choices. Another great book is Dr. Burgess's Atlas Marine Aquarium Fishes
George
Aug 12, 2012 11:30:55 #
Jas wrote:
Yaro, Thanks for your help. Since I posted this, I have purchased the great Humann and DeLoach book called Reef Fish Identification. Based on it, I think the fish are Yellowtail Snappers. See shot enlcosed.
Jas, I too thought they were yellowtail snappers at first glance having caught hundreds of them fishing in the Florida Keys. Yellowfin goatfish and yellowtail snapper are very similar in appearance, especially from a distance. If you zoom in on them, you can see that they have two separate dorsal fins. The yellowtails have connected dorsal fins giving the appearance of one long dorsal fin. Also, it looks like you can spot another characteristic of goatfish on a few of them which are the whiskers (barbels). Look them up and tell me what you think. I just conferred with my expert (my son) and he responded goatfish without hesitation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yellowfin_goatfish.jpg
http://www.coral.org/_368
Aug 12, 2012 18:31:46 #
Yaro, You are absolutely right on both accounts! I'm familiar with goatfish, but I did not know there was a yellow stripe variety. The first picture below is a comparison of the 2 species as shown in the Humann & Deloach book. They sure are similar! The second picture is the group at the lower left of my shot, and although I cannot see any burbles, I do see the split dorsal fin. The third picture is the group at the lower right of my shot, and there I can clearly see the burbles on at least 5 fish, plus the split fin. Thanks so much for your insight! It's a good day when I learn something new! You can be sure I'll be looking for both species on my next dive trip!
Snapper compared to Goatfish
Here you can see split dorsal fins
Here you seel split fins and burbles
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