Fish Identification

Its actually pretty easy to identify fish. There are 3 ways to identify fish, basic fish markings, tail types, and mouth types. Superior(tarpon), terminal(barracuda), and inferior(yellow goatfish); examples of mouth types. Lunate(blue striped grunt), forked(tarpon), truncate(gray snapper), and rounded(goliath grouper); examples of tail types. Bars, stripes, and bands are all basic fish markings.

There are 11 basic groups of reef fish. Silvery fish, sloping head/tapered body fish, pectoral swimming fish with obvious scales, disk/oval fish, small oval fish, heavy body/large lipped fish, reddish, big eyed fish, bottom dwelling fish, odd-shaped fish, eels, and sharks and rays.

Silvery fish: two groups - ambush and schooling, open water swimmers, majority have deeply forked tails, streamlined bodies. Some examples are: barracuda, tarpon, and bermuda chub - these were all fish that were seen at the reef and around the island.

Sloping head/tapered body fish: elongated dorsal fin, inferior mouth, open water swimmers, night feeders, majority are fast swimmers. Some examples include: Mangrove/Gray snapper, yellowtail snapper, blue striped grunt, french grunt, and porkfish.

Pectoral fish with obvious scales: fly like birds around the edge of the reef, group is often brightly colored, change sex throughout life cycle, truncate tail, and a terminal or inferior mouth. Examples include: stoplight parrotfish, redband parrotfish, rainbow parrotfish, midnight parrotfish, blue parrotfish, hogfish, spanish hogfish, and bluehead wrasse.

Disk/oval fish: size varies among groups, reef-huggers, laterally compressed bodies, tiny pointed mouths, fairly active during the daytime, very colorful and usually have distinct markings. Examples include: banded butterfly fish, queen angelfish, blue tang, doctor fish, ocean surgeonfish.

Small oval fish: approximately 4 inches long, reef huggers, strongly territorial, swim well despite their feathery fins and tail, terminal mouths. Examples include: bicolor damselfish, sergeant major, blue chromis.

Heavy body/Large lipped fish: massive in size, slow moving due to size and truncate tail, reside under ledges at the base of the reef, suction feeders - so they swallow their prey as a whole. Examples include: groupers.

Reddish, Big-eyed fish: 1 inch to a foot long, inhabit cracks and crevices of the reefs, spiny dorsal fin, forked tail. Examples: squirrelfish.

Bottom-dwelling fish: 1 to 2 inches in length, terminal mouths, rounded tails, rest on bottom of reef with pectoral fins, mimics cleaning fish. Examples: neon goby.

Odd shaped fish: examples include: yellow goatfish, spotted scorpionfish, balloonfish, porcupine fish, trumpetfish.

Eels: very shy, inhabit crevices or under reef ledges, no pelvic or pectoral fins, continuous dorsal and caudal fins, undulate like territorial snakes, no scales - protective mucus layer, vary from 1.5 feet to 8 feet in length. Examples include: green and spotted moray eels.

Sharks and Rays: skeletons are composed of cartilage, rely on Ampullae of lorenzini to locate food, continuous replacement teeth, feeding occurs in open water during the early morning and at sunset. Examples include: nurse shark, reef shark, southern stingray, and spotted eagle ray.