I shot this badly lit fish on the shale last weekend at about 50ft. Can't find it in either of my Pacific coast fish books, but I might be looking in the wrong places. Some sort of Sculpin I presume. Any help out there?
Monterey Fish ID
- Thread starter Larry C
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It looks like some sort of scorpion fish to me....just a guess.
Joe
Joe
A sculpin of some sort. ID can be really hard. Not a snubnose.
Unlikely to be a scorpionfish because AFAIL, the California Scorpionfish is the only one
we get, and they are very rare (I've got 1200 dives in Monterey and I've never seen
one).
Unlikely to be a scorpionfish because AFAIL, the California Scorpionfish is the only one
we get, and they are very rare (I've got 1200 dives in Monterey and I've never seen
one).
I did a little more research on the Calif. Scorpionfish last night. Santa Cruz is the
northern limit of its range And it has brightly colored pectoral fins.
northern limit of its range And it has brightly colored pectoral fins.
MontereyCADiver
Guest
Another vote for sculpin.
It is hard to tell, but, I might lean towards a Brown Irish Lord. Some of the tell-tell signs according to Andy Lamb in Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest and Paul Humann in Coastal Fish Identification California to Alaska, are not visible in your pictures. Two of the key characterisitics are the dorsal fin being a single dorsal fin with 3 distinct step like notches and also a horizontal band of 6 to 8 scales wide along the dorsal fin.
I have never seen a Brown Irish Lord since we don't have them here in Puget Sound, but I first thought when I saw this picture was Red Irish Lord. But, upon further research, I think I might lean more towards the Brown Irish Lord instead. The Red Irish lord only has a band of 4 to 5 scales wide along the dorsal fin.
Another key difference between the Brown and the Red Irish lords is that the Brown has fleshy flaps over the nostrils.
Just some thoughts...
I have never seen a Brown Irish Lord since we don't have them here in Puget Sound, but I first thought when I saw this picture was Red Irish Lord. But, upon further research, I think I might lean more towards the Brown Irish Lord instead. The Red Irish lord only has a band of 4 to 5 scales wide along the dorsal fin.
Another key difference between the Brown and the Red Irish lords is that the Brown has fleshy flaps over the nostrils.
Just some thoughts...
kawikac
Registered
It's Artedius corallinus
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