19-07-2005, 07:04 PM
Hi Glen,
I just had a look at your 'zoomed in' pics on oceanphotgraphy.net, and I agree about the unknown fish, it doesn't quite look enough like a Johnstons weedfish. The underside of the fish is a prominent white colour. The feathery 'horns' should be a useful diagnostic feature. I also can't make out the seven eyespots below the dorsal fin, although my reference says 'dark spots USUALLY on back below dorsal fin, becoming smaller with increased body size'. Can you remember what size this fish was? The odd thing about this fish that distinguishes it from the blennies, and most of the other weedfishes is that it has quite a prominent snout forward of the eyes, compared to blennies which have eyes basically right on the front of their head. I am starting to think that this fish is a cryptic/rare species, and might not be in 'Sea fishes of southern australia'. I haven't given up though and hope to find out some more information about this fish.
I can help with better identifying the stripey fish - I initially thought it was a moonlighter, but your zoomed in image shows enough features to confirm that it is a magpie perch (#122) - look particularly at the lips and placement of the eye. The stripe down the middle of the head isn't shown in the illustration in 'sea fishes', but I've speared these fish before and they definately have it. Check out this pic of a magpie perch:
[url="http://wandaba2.cool.ne.jp/kasai/1c_pacific2/1c04_s-australia/comment/magpie.htm"]http://wandaba2.cool.ne.jp/kasai/1c_pacifi...ment/magpie.htm[/url]
I just had a look at your 'zoomed in' pics on oceanphotgraphy.net, and I agree about the unknown fish, it doesn't quite look enough like a Johnstons weedfish. The underside of the fish is a prominent white colour. The feathery 'horns' should be a useful diagnostic feature. I also can't make out the seven eyespots below the dorsal fin, although my reference says 'dark spots USUALLY on back below dorsal fin, becoming smaller with increased body size'. Can you remember what size this fish was? The odd thing about this fish that distinguishes it from the blennies, and most of the other weedfishes is that it has quite a prominent snout forward of the eyes, compared to blennies which have eyes basically right on the front of their head. I am starting to think that this fish is a cryptic/rare species, and might not be in 'Sea fishes of southern australia'. I haven't given up though and hope to find out some more information about this fish.
I can help with better identifying the stripey fish - I initially thought it was a moonlighter, but your zoomed in image shows enough features to confirm that it is a magpie perch (#122) - look particularly at the lips and placement of the eye. The stripe down the middle of the head isn't shown in the illustration in 'sea fishes', but I've speared these fish before and they definately have it. Check out this pic of a magpie perch:
[url="http://wandaba2.cool.ne.jp/kasai/1c_pacific2/1c04_s-australia/comment/magpie.htm"]http://wandaba2.cool.ne.jp/kasai/1c_pacifi...ment/magpie.htm[/url]