Fish ID's

OK, these two picts are of some fairly rare fish all together. Or, maybe they hide so well I rarely see them, but I need a little help deciding which species they are. Thanks!

Is this a Crevice Kelpfish, Gibbonsia montereyensis, or a color variation of Spotted Kelpfish, Gibbonsia elegans?

Is this a Red Irish Lord, Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus, or a Spotfin Sculpin, Icelinus tenuis?

Wow, I can't believe you haven't gotten any responses yet. Usually our members are eager to share information especially on fish.

Come on people, don't make me send Pat to another forum! ;D

OK, these two picts are of some fairly rare fish all together. Or, maybe they hide so well I rarely see them, but I need a little help deciding which species they are. Thanks!

I'd have to agree, Leslie inspired me to check out my books on the West coast fish ID's. I don't see anything close. I came up blank on Fishbase too. These were taken out at the Channel Islands, right? If so I've made a couple thousand dives out there and I've never seen either one. Of course I could have gone by the second one a few hundred times and might not have noticed, But I'd have thought lots of folks would have seen the first one if they were there in numbers. Juveniles? Can you give a little more info on the location and size? Nice work!

Steve

First should be G. montereyensis.

For the second, I'll go with Sculpin sp., but I've always had a difficult time narrowing down the specific one . Red Irish Lords aren't usually found this far south.

I'd have to agree, Leslie inspired me to check out my books on the West coast fish ID's. I don't see anything close. I came up blank on Fishbase too. These were taken out at the Channel Islands, right? If so I've made a couple thousand dives out there and I've never seen either one. Of course I could have gone by the second one a few hundred times and might not have noticed, But I'd have thought lots of folks would have seen the first one if they were there in numbers. Juveniles? Can you give a little more info on the location and size? Nice work!

 

Steve

Steve, I'm sorry I didn't add anything as to where the picts were taken. I guess it skiped my mind since I just got done putting a few photos into the showcase forum. Yes, they were taken off Santa Cruz Island, California. Both fish were approximately 5-7 inches long, but I'm a guy and that kind of measurment comes difficult for me! Color differences/morphs do make it difficult to pin it down sometimes, especially when the picture in the article comes from another region.

In my books it stated that the first one could have a red color when found below 30 meters. Both specimens were found in about 20ft.

Thanks also to Leslie and segal3!

Always keep in mind that fish & inverts don't read the same books we do and therefore don't know where they're supposed to be living.......

hey Pat,

its good seeing you out with your D80

1st photo might be Gibbonsia montereyensis, but suposedly you can't tell apart G. montereyensis, G. erythra, or G. elegans from photos. You have to kill the fish and bring it in.

sculpins are hard, unless you have multiple photos, there are 42 species in CA. most likely either a red irish lord, smoothhead, bull sculpin, boneyhead, or scalyhead. do you have more photos of the sculpin?

scott

Well, Leslie, in that case, since they don't have the same book I do, I'm keeping my book in the pocket of drysuit. So I can say, " Hey, you! Thanks for letting me take your picture, now, which one are you??" :-) That way we're on the same page, so to speak.

Scott, maybe I'll see you out there sometime? The same rig won't be hard to miss. Sorry, I don't need the ID bad enough to bring the little guy in. I only have one more pict. of both. I posted the best of two. 42 species? Wow!

Hey, thanks, both of you.

What a pretty fishy!

Sorry I can't be of any other help - not scientist you see!

I do appreciate a great shot though!

Kay

Well, I've had a couple of responses as to the ID of the second fish, fishy for indigo :-). It seems an exact ID might be a little difficult and from the picture alone, we're just going to call it "Artedius" species. Thanks everyone.

I have a similar fish that does not fit the textbook description of a Gibbonsia montereyensus. The photo was taken at the mouth of the Carmel River just outside of Monterey Bay California. The fish was in about 35ft of water.