4 replies to this topic

[Glasseye Snapper]

I could use help with the ID for the fish below as I'm not even sure which family to look at. Most of the time that means it is a juvenile and this one was about 5cm, found at 10m on a gently sloping sand/rubble area downwards from a shallow coastal reef. It swam with halting motions, not trying to hide but clearly aware and anxious about my presence.

 

Thanks,  Bart

 

[scubamarli]

Looks like a wrasse....not that it narrows the search down much. Where was it taken?

[Glasseye Snapper]

Looks like a wrasse....not that it narrows the search down much. Where was it taken?

 

Thanks Marli,

 

As the title indicated the picture was taken in Anilao. Twin Rocks to be precise. It doesn't look like any juvenile wrasse I know but it does move a little like a young black wrasse (Macropharyngodon negrosensis). I did contemplate a juvenile tuskfish because I did see adult tuskfish and they are quite different from the "normal" wrasse I am familiar with. So far I have found only one juvenile tuskfish image on fishbase. It is not this one but the shape is promising so I need to do some more digging.

 

Bart

[maractwin]

I suspect juvenile tuskfish as well.  I have photographed juvenile Choerodon zosterophorus which have this shape, though slightly different coloration.  Which adult Choerodon sp. were in the area?

 

-Mark

[Glasseye Snapper]

On this site the only tuskfish I saw was the Zamboanga tuskfish. I don't think it is a commonly seen species (it is not in the Reef Fish ID Tropical Pacific book and only dead specimen pictures on fishbase). I could not find any juvenile pictures for it so this might be it.