6 replies to this topic

[echeng]

This little guy is very, very small and was bobbing up and down near a hole by a boulder. There were three of them, and the others were even smaller.

An ideas on what it is?

Oh yeah, it was taken in Rajah Ampat, Indonesia.

[Giles]

looks like a type of puffer .. although trunk fish or cow fish have similar mouths , i don't know scientific families but i would go with somethign like that.. in the caribbean they start off looking like small bumble bee's with spots ...

Your particular one is the Lesser Spotted EC watermark fish

what i am used to is found at Reef Images .com)

second guess maybe it's a cowfish ? i always forget th differences. are they all types of puffers ?

[echeng]

I should note that the Lesser Spotted EC Watermark fish was SO SMALL that we couldn't see any detail until I took the image and then blew it up on my computer.

It was maybe 2mm long.

[Giles]

i have seen juvenile trunk / cow fish be really really small I wouldn't be surprised if they can be smaller than when i have first spotted them (about 0.5 - 1cm)
I am just guessing but the lips made me think this way (they look like lips to me)

[james]

Eric:

Here are my observations:

It has very large and well developed eyes
The bottom looks like the foot of a snail - very strange
It looks like it has some clear "coating" around all of its body, but it's hard to tell
It appears to have some kind of tail in the back.

My guess would be a shrimp or lobster larva.

Cheers
James

[echeng]

I was thinking shrimp or lobster larva as well, James.

Anyway, I love small, bizarre critters.

[Leslie]

Do you have any other photos or can you manipulate it for better detail? It doesn't look like any kind of crustacean larvae to me as it is -- way too solid!
Thanks, Leslie