Caribbean Fish ID

Well I have another mystery....

Closing up the shop my staff members spotted this fish swimming under our dock - on the surface of the water. One of my guys is a Fish ID expert, and he was stumped. So he jumped in with a clear jug and fished it out to get a better look.

The fish was approx 5 cms long, and on first look appeared to be a twig, albeit a swimming twig!

The guys brought the jug with the fish into the shop to compare with ID books, and I grabbed my cameras and snapped a couple of shots. I did not want to stress the fish too much, and it was returned back under the dock where it stayed until it got dark.

I am not sure if it is a juvenile, or fully grown fish. Any assistance with an ID would be greatly appreciated.

Video showing swimming action of fish

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Thank you.

Kay Wilson,

Indigo Dive, St. Vincent.

It's really hard to get a good look from the photos would love a more side on shot!

On reading i thought pipe fish .. but looking at it .. I second guessed.

The broad nose is odd, but they do exist, the bit that makes me question is the dorsal fin, it's not in the middle of the back like most seahorse / pipefish I have seen.

But If it isn't a pipe fish I have no idea what it is.

Definitely not a pipe fish. I originally thought that it might be a juvenile Gar or even a variety of ramora as the mouth has an unusual configuration. I did get some other shots with a different camera, but having issues with the data card. They don't like to be kept in salty humid places like dive shops apparently!

It's really hard to get a good look from the photos would love a more side on shot!

Giles, I have added some more shots in to the original message. Hope this helps! K

I vote Juvenile Needlefish (Tylosurus crocodilus)

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=13570

Picture of needlefish showing the odd looking mouth lobes.

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=...l2:&res=640

Hi Kay;

It's definitely a needlefish, either a Strongylura sp. or Tylosurus sp. It's a little hard to count dorsal fin rays in your photos, but it seems to me there are more than 17, so that makes it a Tylosurus. It's either T. acus acus or T. crocodilus crocodilus. The latter is much more common, so the odds are that William is correct --- a juvenile houndfish.

Les