Can We play Again?? Fish ID game???

[JHemdal]

Well, I got nuthin - looks a bit like a Chromis dimidiata, but you said this was a hard one, so I'll just toss out a random guess: an adult Chromis fatuhivae. But there are a bunch of doppelgangers with this basic color pattern: C. abrupta, C. iomelas, C. leucura, C. delta, C. bami and C. magaritifer.

And that brings up my oft-repeated gripe with this thread - all of these similar fishes really should not be identified based on looking at a picture and matching it up to some other pictures (In my case, Dr. Randall's Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific!). My college professor would toss out a picture of a fish and ask us what it is. When somebody answered, he would hammer them with, "You cannot identifiy a fish you do not have in hand".(grin).

Jay Hemdal

 

[kirkaz]

Nope, keep trying

If you insist

Chromis iomelas??

 

[Luiz Rocha]

Well, I got nuthin - looks a bit like a Chromis dimidiata, but you said this was a hard one, so I'll just toss out a random guess: an adult Chromis fatuhivae. But there are a bunch of doppelgangers with this basic color pattern: C. abrupta, C. iomelas, C. leucura, C. delta, C. bami and C. magaritifer.

And that brings up my oft-repeated gripe with this thread - all of these similar fishes really should not be identified based on looking at a picture and matching it up to some other pictures (In my case, Dr. Randall's Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific!). My college professor would toss out a picture of a fish and ask us what it is. When somebody answered, he would hammer them with, "You cannot identifiy a fish you do not have in hand".(grin).

Jay Hemdal

You got it, Chromis fatuhivae, one of the rarest fishes out there. Not only it is endemic to the Marquesas, within the archipelago it only occurs in the island of Fatu Hiva. But that's not fair, the photo on Jack's South Pacific book is mine, taken during the same dive when I took the one I posted above

 

[JHemdal]

O.K., very cool, so that was your image in the book!

Hey - I think I've got a good one for the group, I have my camera with me at work today, give me a bit to get a photograph of it....


Jay

 

[JHemdal]

O.K., here is the next fish. Here is a hint: Flipping through aquarium picture books won't help you on this one, but being a saltwater angler might!

Jay

 

[Recty]

Around here, we would call that a sardine

 

[JHemdal]

Close but no cigar!


Next hint - it has a spiny first dorsal that is mostly hidden in this photo because it is folded down.


J

 

[username in use]

Is that an Atule Mate?

 

[Beaun]

My first guess would be yellowtail scad, Atule Mate.


Edit: got in a second late...

 

[JHemdal]

Correct family, close on the genus, wrong ocean....

J

 

[Beaun]

At least I knew it was a Jack...here is my guess.

Decapterus macrosoma?
Alepes kleinii?

 

[JHemdal]

Beaun,

Correct on the genus Decapterus. Your location is listed as "East Hampton", so the next hint is that this fish originated from an aquarium about 16 miles west of you, or you could find millions of them if you go a bit east of your location. (grin).

J

 

[itachi]

Decapterus punctatus ?

 

[username in use]

Decapterus macarellus

 

[JHemdal]

Decapterus punctatus ?

Yep! The round scad. Also called the cigar fish (thus my "close but no cigar" quip). Your turn itachi......

J

 

[itachi]

compared to the last one ,this should be easy .. a nice grey juvi tang =)

 

[itachi]

Okay hint.. Not from the red sea
it's Acanthurus but that's a given.

 

[Cantonesefish]

Thanks for keeping the thread alive Luiz! I'll throw my photo out there:

 

[JHemdal]

Cantonesefish,

Chaetodon sanctaehelenae. I got to work with some of these about 25 years ago. At a public aquarium I used to work at, the curator knew somebody in the RAF or something, and we got a few boxes of fish from St. Helena. All fine except that the intake pipe on a pump slipped and the quarantine system supersaturated and we lost most of them (they weren't in my area at the time though!).

Assuming I got it right, I'll pass to the next person who wants to post a picture.....

Jay

 

[Luiz Rocha]

Lets get the surgeonfish before we move on to the next, I am thinking Acanthurus chirurgus...