Inimicus Species

Hi there,

I saw this huge Inimicus species during a night dive in Lembeh straits at about 20m. I have never seen one like this and was clearly different from the common Inimicus didactylus in size (over 30cm long), the filamentous processes around the mouth and general shape of the head. I wonder if anyone has any idea what it might be.

Thanks

Richard

Hi Richard - I've sent a message to our fish expert Luiz Rocha to take a look at your image. To me it looks like just a really big & well developed didactylus but I"m pretty clueless when it comes to things with backbones.

Sorry, I didn't see this post before. I tend to agree with Leslie and think this is a large I. didactilus, but there is another species in the area, I. caledonicus, take a look at the pictures in fishbase and see what you think:

http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=5826

http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=12031

Luiz

I saw another species, Inimicus sinensis, in a book that I thought it might be. I definitely don't think it is I. didactylus due to the size plus the head shape doesn't seem right for I. caledonicus, I wasn't sure if there were many other obscure species people might know about. I have attached another shot I took of the head which shows it to be quite flat between the eyes and mouth whereas I. caledonicus seems to have raised nostrils. I think the most useful feature for ID would have been the colour of the inner surface of the pectoral fin but it didn't open them out.