fish id

fish id

Not often do i come across a fish that i don't recognize... anyone have an idea of what it could be?

Caught a few of them in holes in reef holes up at Exmouth.... about 20 - 25cm long

Cheers, Tom

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bream slayer

 

 


Glenn Moore's picture

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Date Joined: 13/02/12

Darwin Jawfish

Mon, 2012-07-23 11:48

Darwin Jawfish Opistognathus darwiniensis.  They live in vertical burrows in the sand.

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Glenn Moore

Curator of Fishes

Western Australian Museum

twitter @WestOzFish

 

 

Ben Derecki's picture

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Date Joined: 10/10/07

Vertical burrows for a fish

Mon, 2012-07-23 11:59

Vertical burrows for a fish that size - very cool.

aussie_breamer's picture

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Date Joined: 24/08/10

.

Mon, 2012-07-23 12:05

Cheers Glenn, yeah the holes that i caught them in were very interesting, thought there might be an octopus in them, so was surprised when this came up.

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bream slayer

 

 

hekser's picture

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no idea.

Mon, 2012-07-23 11:49

looks cool tho :P 

jighead's picture

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Colours

Mon, 2012-07-23 12:04

Interesting similarities between the colours of the lure and the fish.

pelagicyachts's picture

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does not appear to have

Mon, 2012-07-23 12:53

does not appear to have pectoral fins? -correct? - thats a mangrove leaf at the bottom yeah?

hlokk's picture

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Found a photo of one of their

Tue, 2012-07-24 10:32

Found a photo of one of their holes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/centralaustralia/6346449265/|
Ambush predator!

 

The "mangrove leaf" is the pelvic fin. The pectoral fin appears to be quite translucent from other pics, but I still cant make it out in that one. E.g. in this pic it blends in but you can 'just' make it out: http://eol.org/pages/217787/overview

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Can you eat them

Mon, 2012-07-23 13:05

Can you eat them

Six Fish Dunsborough's picture

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Date Joined: 21/03/11

awesome

Thu, 2012-08-23 16:37

 looks cool

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doubleheader_king's picture

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Date Joined: 08/06/13

leopard or darwin jawfish

Fri, 2014-01-03 17:36

 leopard or darwin jawfish. Very cool looking fella.