Transcript Tropical Fish

Caribbean Tropical Fish
4-04-10
Four-eyed Fish, Anableps
Trinidad November 2009 Photo by Eliana Ardila
Anableps skim the surface and
their eyes see above and below.
Queen Angelfish
French Angelfish
Gray Angelfish
Rock Beauty
Barracuda
Jack the Ripper, the five foot
welcome committee at Blue Hole.
Jack the Ripper under our boat at
Blue Hole.
Revenge! Dinner!
Mallory Blakeslee and her ‘Cudda 2005
Mike Joines & his ‘Cuddas
By Harold Baquet
Blackcap Basslet
Fairy Basslet
Batfish, a species we see while
snorkeling in the mangroves of
Turneffe Atoll.
Spotted Burrfish
Web Burrfish
Spiney Puffer from Natural History Magazine
A spiney little ball. from Natural History Magazine
How do they puff up? It’s the
stomach. From Natural History Magazine
Bandtail Puffer
Toadfish
Scorpionfish, with poison glands,
cryptically resting in Tobago.
Banded Butterflyfish
Foureyed Butterflyfish
Spotfin Butterflyfish
Cyanae
Blue Chromis
Brown Chromis
Coney: yellow phase (l) &
bicolor phase (r)
Chub
Chub under the boat at The
Aquarium, a favorite dive site on
Long Caye, Belize.
Barjack
Melissa Kaintz (02) with an edible
barjack.
Jack Crevelle
Horse-eye Jack – note the large eye
King Mackerel – called a King Fish
in Belize.
Patty Richards
(02) with her
King Fish.
We’ll have a good meal soon!
Spanish Mackerel
Wahoo are another relative of the
King Fish.
Fish have a lateral line for sensing
the environment, and the shape of
the line is often used to identify fish.
Yellowfin Tuna, one of the fastest
fishes in the sea.
Fast moving
fish (a King
Mackerel in
this case) often
have very red,
highly
vascularized
tissue near the
center of the
body.
High Speed Tails
Gill Rakers in Bonita
Bicolor Damselfish adult
Bicolor Damselfish juvenile
Cocoa Damselfish
Flameback
Ocellate Damselfish
Sunshine fish on the wall
Threespotted Damselfish
Yellowtail Damselfish
Pinfish
Flounder
Slippery Dick adult
Slippery Dick subadult
Jackknife fish
Spotted Drum
Drum
Orangespotted Filefish
Slender Filefish
Spotted Goatfish
Yellow Goatfish
Sailfin Blenny
Blennies
Wrasse Blenny
Jawfish with eggs in the mouth.
These are common at our dive sites.
Small goby on a coral – look closely
when diving.
Neon Goby
Sarcastic Fringehead (Goby)
Blue-spot Goby
Yellowprow Goby looking out
of a sponge.
Bluestripe Grunt – note the
parallel blue stripes.
Bluestriped Grunt (Kissing?)
French Grunt – note the oblique
stripes on the sides.
What do you see?
(Wildlife Conservation June 2004)
Yellow Grunt
Blue Hamlet
Indigo Hamlet
Lizardfish
Sand diver – closely related to
the lizardfish.
Gafftopsail Catfish
Tarpon are one of the most popular
game fishes in the world. They have
huge scales that are shed continually.
Ladyfish – held by a headless hippy.
Scad
Bonefish
How to catch a Bonefish
Happiness with a Bonefish
Goldentail Moray
Green Moray
Spotted Moray
More Morays (What do you think they are talking
about?)
“You get the leg, I’ll go for the crotch!” Ouch!!!
Goldspotted eel
Garden Eels – common at our
dive sites
Poor Nemo!!!
Redband Parrotfish
Queen Parrotfish
Stoplight Parrotfish: male on
left
Princess Parrotfish
Midnight Parrotfish, Blue Hole,
Belize
Stoplight Parrotfish, Blue Hole,
Belize
Pigfish
Porkfish
Ocean sunfish, Mola mola
Gray Reef Shark
Nurse Shark
Students with Nurse Sharks
Is this clear water, or what?
Sand Tiger Shark
Bull Shark
Black-tipped Shark
Bonnethead Shark
Half Eaten Shark
Shark claspers (male intromittant
organ) and Ampullae of Lorenzini
(electroreceptors) on the head
Mako sharks catch tuna – do you
think they can swim fast? Only
about 50 mph!
Mako’s are
scary.
Great White Shark
Attack Shark
Always be careful around water!
Whale Shark feeding
Whale Shark
Remember the shark attacks of a few
years ago. Here’s an interesting
theory!
Remora, or Shark Sucker
Stingray and Spine
Aimée, Luz and friend.
Manta Ray Head
Torpedo (Electric)
Spotted Eagle Ray
Martin & Winnie, 2004
This is why one shuffles ones feet
when wading where stingrays occur.
Gray Snapper
Mutton Snapper - HMC
Yellowtail Snapper
Mahogany Snapper
Schoolmaster
Black Grouper – note the black
stripe on the tail
Nassau Grouper
Myra Hughey (02) and her Yellowfinned Grouper
Romey and
Myra’s
Yellowfinned
Grouper
Rock Hind (a small grouper)
Spanish Hogfish Mating
Behavior
Longspine Squirrelfish
Longspine Squirrelfish, Belize.
Squirrel fish with amphipod
Blue Tang
Surgeonfish
Doctorfish
Black Durgon – beauty in motion
Gray Triggerfish
Queen Triggerfish
Ocean Triggerfish
Spadefish
Trumpetfish
Seahorses
Martin & Winnie, 2004
Mudskipper (out of water) in the
Philippines
Bluehead Wrasse adult
Bluehead Wrasse juveniles & one
adult male
Wrasse at cleaning “stations”
Cleaning Symbiosis
Yellowhead Wrasse
Creole wrasse – a common school
fish
Upyer Wrasse
A few freshwater fish
Tilapia
Peacock Cichlid, Petenia splendida
– locally known as Bay snook
Note the large mouth for capturing
prey
Firemouth Cichlid, Cichlasoma
meeki
Other freshwater cichlids
A freshwater catfish in Belize
Freshwater: Red-tailed Catfish
from the Amazon
Piranha – Refugio Amazonas,
Tambopata, Perú.
Freshwater: Piranha teeth
So, you think sharks and piranha are
scary?
Meet the Candirú, Vandellia
cirrhosa (Trichomycteridae)
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Small tissue chewers – a type of catfish
From the Amazon & Orinoco rivers (no, not in Belize)
Cryptic, clear, and slippery
Normally feed on the gills of fish
In humans, move toward urine
Most victims have the candirú enter the urethra while swimming
in the nude
One victim was standing thigh deep in water peeing, and a 5
inch long, 7/16 inch wide, candirú swam into his penis
Once in the urethra, the little spines of the pectoral fins lock into
place and surgery is required to extricate them.
Candirú images from the web
Many thanks to the following for
use of their slides:
www.reef.org
www.fishid.com