Tilefish

[fish_defender]

I would love to see a tilefish. Everything I've read sounds so cool — burrowing ecosystem engineers. Where is a good site to spot them in Florida?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I would love to see a tilefish. Everything I've read sounds so cool — burrowing ecosystem engineers. Where is a good site to spot them in Florida?

Pretty sure I’ve seen them in Palm Beach on the Breakers reef system. I have a short video but it’s not on YouTube so I can’t share it. Let me see if I can upload it somehow.

Here is a screen grab of a short 9 sec video I have. I believe this is a sand tilefish according to the STRI app.

 

[fish_defender]

Very cool, thanks.

 

[johndiver999]

They are pretty common in 90-100 ft on open sandy bottom in palm beach. Places you do not want to dive, in general.

 

[fish_defender]

Well I want to now.

 

[johndiver999]

I've seen thousands of them literally, they are solitary or maybe one or two are in the same area. They are pretty common. They are quite different than real "tilefish", which are much, much deeper.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Checking on the date and location of the photo I posted above, this was from Jan 4, 2025. As @johndiver999 mentions it was definitely a sandy patch between reef sections. Not quite as deep as he typically sees them. This one would have been in the 50-60' range. This was from a dive on Tear Drop to Ron's Rock to Middle Earth. I believe this one was in the section between Ron's Rock and Middle Earth ... the sand gap there.

Here is the full 9 sec video.

 

[fish_defender]

No way, I was there the other day, searching in those sand patches thinking they seemed like great tilefish habitat. But I only saw jawfish. Still cool, of course. Thanks for sharing.

 

[fish_defender]

I've seen thousands of them literally, they are solitary or maybe one or two are in the same area. They are pretty common. They are quite different than real "tilefish", which are much, much deeper.

Yes, the massive golden tilefish would be an incredible sight, but might require tech diving.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

No way, I was there the other day, searching in those sand patches thinking they seemed like great tilefish habitat. But I only saw jawfish. Still cool, of course. Thanks for sharing.

I only recall seeing a sand tilefish there this one time. That is why I filmed it. They are not common there. Yellow-headed jawfish are much more common.