3 fish from Secret Bay - Anilao

I'm stuck on confirming the ID of the below 3 fish species taken on a recent trip to the Philippines

Fish 1: About 2cm in length - Secret Bay - Anilao

Fish 2: Some sort of Dragonet about 5cm long. not sure of species - Secret Bay - Anilao

Fish 3: Another dragonet, about 1-2cm long - Photographed at Dauin. Is it possibly a juvenile Fingered Dragonet (Dactylopus dactylopus)?

Any input appreciated.

cheers,

Dave

Hi Dave - Don't know the first two but the third is Synchiropus kuiteri http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=60086

#1 to me was a juvie scorpionfish of some sort. I saw quite a few when I was there. I thought it was a waspfish of some sort.

#2 = difficult to tell but I'd say Diplogrammus goramensis or possibly Callionymus superbus. Is the dorsal folded back or not there?

OK, I dive in Anilao for eight years now, but have never heard of any site called "secret bay" .

Is this the same site as "Mainit Muck" that is next to Mainit Point on the beach where the big hotel is still being built?

I have been diving this site for 4 years, and based upon the number of dive boats that are there in the afternoons, there is absolutely NO secret about it, at least anymore.

OK, I dive in Anilao for eight years now, but have never heard of any site called "secret bay" .

Is this the same site as "Mainit Muck" that is next to Mainit Point on the beach where the big hotel is still being built?

I think it could be the same site, except were we stayed they never referred to it as Mainit Point. But there is a MASSIVE hotel being built there, I wrote a summary of my first dive there in this article which includes a surface shot of the site: http://www.daveharasti.com/Phils09/article/index.html

I propose it's renamed to 'Cephalopod Bay' given that I saw 10 different species there in 5 days.

I have been diving this site for 4 years, and based upon the number of dive boats that are there in the afternoons, there is absolutely NO secret about it, at least anymore.

I must have been lucky! I've dived it twice a day for 5 days straight last week and didn't see another boat the entire time! So it was still secret last week....

Leslie - Thanks for the Synchiropus kuiteri ID, I just found a shot of a juvenile in Kuiter's World Atlas of Fish and it's identical.

Drew - Fish 2 has been stumped. I couldn't see any dorsal fin what so ever, I'll see if Rudie Kuiter recognises it.

thanks,

Dave

Not an attempted hijack, but I found a similar fish (although colouration is different) at Lembeh last July. It was hanging out with juvenile Longfin waspfish, and was less than an inch long. I thought that it might be a juvie estuary waspfish, but the barbels and dorsal don't add up. Looks like your fish's cousin. I think that yours may be a Black waspfish juvenile. Tertraroge niger. The stripe on the tail and white face make sense.

I have been curious about this one, too. It would be nice to see what they are.

Cheers,

Marli

Here's a few more shots of Dave's mysterious waspfish. I was going to post for id but forgot :

Yeah juve waspfish seems highly likely - although not sure on the species. Cool critter, both of you.

Alex

There's a white dotted line right along the side. It's not the longispinus or the niger I don't think.

If Rudie doesn't know, I'll bug Gerry.

#1 I've got a few shots of these from my 16 dives at Secret Bay last month. They were usually in small groups and looked like juvenile waspfish. I thought they were Cockatoo Waspfish (Ablabys taenianotus) because I had seen a lot of the adults there.

#2 I think I saw this too. Tricky to get a shot of as they were more nervous than the Dactylopus species. I thought they looked similar to a Superb Dragonet (Callionymus superbus)

btw. SecretSea18, yes Secret Bay is the site next to Mainit Point, as far as I know it's been called that for years, though obviously it's not a secret anymore. It is also known as Toros, because there used to be a couple of bulls tethered on the shore nearby to the left of the new hotel building.

btw. SecretSea18, yes Secret Bay is the site next to Mainit Point, as far as I know it's been called that for years, though obviously it's not a secret anymore. It is also known as Toros, because there used to be a couple of bulls tethered on the shore nearby to the left of the new hotel building.

We call it "Mainit Muck" because the first time we went there (Mainit Point had a ripping current and was our intended site), there was really nothing much to see... But then when we did see things, there was tons of stuff... Plus we went the wrong direction at first, towards the Point is much better.

The afternoons there were so many boats were rather windy last month, so that may have been part of the reason that there were already sometimes two boats there when we pulled up. The tides and waves were so high that we couldn't beach the bangka and had to do boat dives there (I so much rather do a shore entry off the boat!)

Here's another waspfish that has some resemblance, (Mangrove waspfish) but it is the only photo that I can find:

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/m...sh/text/258.htm

Another possibility is Pseudovespicula dracaena

Draco waspfish, but there's only a drawing on Fishbase.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=28126

Gerry, where are you????

Cheers,

Marli

I have just found out from Gerry Allen that my fish is actually a velvetfish, most likely Acanthosphex leurynnis:

http://research.kahaku.go.jp/zoology/Fishe...a/p023_01b.html

Given the similarity of these others, it seems likely they are velvetfish as well.

Sorry it took so long......

Cheers,

Marli

I have just found out from Gerry Allen that my fish is actually a velvetfish, most likely Acanthosphex leurynnis:

 

 

http://research.kahaku.go.jp/zoology/Fishe...a/p023_01b.html

 

Given the similarity of these others, it seems likely they are velvetfish as well.

 

Sorry it took so long......

 

Cheers,

Marli

Thanks Marli.

I'm surprised to see that they are velvetfish but can now see they seem similar to the photo in your link.

Cheers

Brian

I found the same fish as in #1 in Anilao, and Gerry Allen says that it is also a Dwarf Velvetfish, Acanthosphex leurynnis. Apparently their colour varies substantially.

Cheers,

Marli

Kuiter's dragonet has been renamed from Synchiropus kuiteri to Dactylopus kuiteri. The latter is now the valid name with the former a synonym.

Bart