Casino Point fish
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Female sheephead
A fish with an interesting name. I'm most familiar with Atlantic/Caribbean species, but I could tell at a glance that this fish was a kind of wrasse, which it turns out that Pacific Sheepheads are. The 'Sheepshead' (Archosargus probatocephalus) I am familiar with is a very common gamefish found in the southeastern United States. It is no relation to the west coast wrasse.
East coast Sheepsheads are interesting because their range changed so drastically about a century ago. In the 19th Century Sheepsheads were so common here in the New Jersey and New York area that bodies of water were named after them, like Sheepshead Bay in New York. They are completely gone from these waters now, probably because dumping, construction and landfills destroyed the once ubiquitous inshore oyster beds these fish depend on. Nobody is sure, though. They just vanished about 100 years ago.
East coast Sheepsheads are interesting because their range changed so drastically about a century ago. In the 19th Century Sheepsheads were so common here in the New Jersey and New York area that bodies of water were named after them, like Sheepshead Bay in New York. They are completely gone from these waters now, probably because dumping, construction and landfills destroyed the once ubiquitous inshore oyster beds these fish depend on. Nobody is sure, though. They just vanished about 100 years ago.
OP
Thanks
I had noted some redish and had wondered if a hybrid or something. Another example how different the human species is. We are one of the few where the female is more beautiful than the male.
---------- Post added December 15th, 2014 at 03:08 PM ----------
Interesting. We still see them in NC. They are caught around piers. I have seen them on some of the inshore ledges (low relief, less than 60 ft deep). Inshore Spearfisherman will take some.
Male and female Sheephead.
I'm, familiar with the East Coast sheepshead as well. I filmed one from the surface in Florida feeding on barnacles attached to a pier piling.
Baby, female, male and two males mouth fighting over territory
Baby, female, male and two males mouth fighting over territory
OP
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