A visitor to Long Island

[doctormike]

OK, I don't think that this guy is local, although it's a bit early in the season for the tropicals to make their way up north...

This VERY territorial and fairly friendly little guy was pretty much sticking to his hole in the keel of the USS San Diego, about 13 miles south of Long Island, in the NYC area. That puts him at around 80 feet.

Looking at my various resources, I think that this might some sort of driftfish - he has the very characteristic blunt nose. The second dorsal fin is pretty far back, and I don't even see much of a first dorsal fin - that is also typical of some driftfish. Unfortunately, none of my books has a driftfish that looks like him in terms of coloration. Some of the jacks also have this profile, but they are very different in terms of coloration and activity - really not territorial reef dwellers like this guy.

What do you think?

 

[deborahdelamar]

You seem close to the answer, IMO. Check family Psenes. I think your fishy is one of those and there are Psenes off New England, for sure, which is close enough to you. It's not a jack.

 

[doctormike]

I got the answer... I have a contact at the Florida Museum of Natural History (Dr. Rob Robbins) who sent them on to his mentor (Dr. Richard Haedrich), who is now retired but who is Professor Emeritus of Ichthyology at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Here is what he said:

"Well, that puts it right in the middle of the Barrelfish (or less commonly "Driftfish") distribution. Those are about the best pictures of the fish I've ever seen. The fish are rather tame at that size and pretty easy to approach. The coloration pattern is very characteristic. The most common place to find them is under flotsam at the surface, hence the name Barrelfish since they might be under a floating barrel, so finding one so deep is rather interesting...​

This is a young fish, but no doubt Hyperoglyphe. The pictures were so clear I could count the D and A finrays, which is important to distinguish Hyperoglyphe bythites from H. perciforma. It seems to be the latter, a species that occurs from Florida to Atlantic Canada. H. bythites is in the Gulf of Mexico."​