Yellow Tang in Florida?!?!?!

[vanshook]

My wife and I were diving off South Palm beach County and came across 3 (at least) yellow tangs! I got a shot of it, check it out.

For those of you that don't know, they are not indigenous to the Caribbean and are found mainly in Pacific waters (Hawaii).

At first, I thought maybe someone let them go from their aquarium. But then we spotted 2 more; I doubt anybody would release that many. They were in perfect condition and plump. They were about 6 inches or so.

Has anyone else seen something like this? Any theories to explain it?

 

[diversteve]

My wife and I were diving off South Palm beach County and came across 3 (at least) yellow tangs! I got a shot of it, check it out.

For those of you that don't know, they are not indigenous to the Caribbean and are found mainly in Pacific waters (Hawaii).

At first, I thought maybe someone let them go from their aquarium. But then we spotted 2 more; I doubt anybody would release that many. They were in perfect condition and plump. They were about 6 inches or so.

Has anyone else seen something like this? Any theories to explain it?

Maybe somebody let a mating pair go? Be a long swim from Maui....

I read somewhere there's Lionfish living near some wrecks off N.C.

There was just another thread recently about someone who saw some Pacific Sailfin Tangs on the east coast also.

I think it's aquarium owners who can't bear the thought of killing their overgrown pacific reef fish so they let them go in the ocean near where they live. Or their sewer system empties into the ocean...

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Believe it or not, I saw one off the jetties in Destin, FL(Northern Gulf of Mexico). I had never seen one before and I haven't seen one since Ivan.

Its possible they could be released aquarium fish, that have reproduced and are making up more of a population. FL is full of non-indigenous life, UW and above.

 

[reefsavers.org]

My wife and I were diving off South Palm beach County and came across 3 (at least) yellow tangs! I got a shot of it, check it out.

For those of you that don't know, they are not indigenous to the Caribbean and are found mainly in Pacific waters (Hawaii).

At first, I thought maybe someone let them go from their aquarium. But then we spotted 2 more; I doubt anybody would release that many. They were in perfect condition and plump. They were about 6 inches or so.

Has anyone else seen something like this? Any theories to explain it?

this is not a yellow tang like you may see in the pacific. this is a juvenile blue tang
and eventualy he will be blue. Divers often make the same assumption.

 

[diversteve]

this is not a yellow tang like you may see in the pacific. this is a juvenile blue tang
and eventualy he will be blue. Divers often make the same assumption.

I knew that too from having seen something similar in Bonaire.

Pacific Yellow Tang (Surgeonfish):

 

[archman]

They seem rather large for juvenile blue tangs. I'd go with an introduced exotic. They've been reported off Boynton Beach.
http://www.reef.org/exotic/#Gallery

Report them to REEF asap.
http://www.reef.org/exotic/exotic.htm

Better yet, kill the friggin' things. Exotics suck.

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... the picture doesn't look like the yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) in my guide to Hawaiian reef fishes. The picture in the book lacks the black stripe and has other side markings of orange and white. Having never dived in Hawaii, I don't know if the picture I have is representative of the variability in the species.

It also doesn't look like the juvenile blue tang due to the black stripe (I've never seen that marking on any of the specimens I've seen diving the Caribbean).

Dr. Bill

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

The supposed yellowtang that I spotted was the same size as the blue doctorfish that frequent thare area fairly regularly. It wasn't any smaller. Woulda been a pain to kill too, damned thing was fast.

 

[Scuba_Dad]

this is not a yellow tang like you may see in the pacific. this is a juvenile blue tang
and eventualy he will be blue. Divers often make the same assumption.

I don't thing it's a juvi blue tang, either. A juvi blue tang doesn't have that stripe. Also, the mouth is different. The fish does look like a tang of some sort. You can see the barb... and it appears to be white... just like the yellow tang.

Sam... take the picture in to Jim at JND and see what he says...

vanshook... send your picture off to REEF and see what they come up with. It's interesting.

 

[mempilot]

Oh great! There goes the reef! First it's the yellow tangs. Then the lionfish. Next, the GW's will be moving in. Time to move again.