Have you seen these fish on the reefs?

[RickI]

I saw one of these Ribbonfish (?), in 90 ft. of water near the surface along a sargassum weed line and a ton of moon jellys today off Ft. Lauderdale on the Sea Experience. It looks like the moon jelly population explosion this year may be worse than last year from early impressions btw. They kept clogging up my dive scooter in a honking strong south running current. Later, I think I saw a school of these guys on the second dive in about 25 ft. of water over the second reef. A group of about 20 individuals were schooling fairly close together, aligned head down over a sand area.

I don't recall having seen any of these guys on or around the reefs before. Have many others seen these very commonly on South Florida reefs or in pelagic areas?

There is a video of the one in deep water at: Ribbonfish??? Have you seen these on the reefs before? - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

Thanks,

 

[mntlblok]

Heard through the grapevine that a juvenile oarfish had recently been seen, but this guy doesn't seem to have the right hair-do for that species. Wonder if this one is also what the others saw. . .

 

[RickI]

You could be right and I agree about the oarfish. The ones I saw lacked the fins off the head and unusual patterning. Ribbonfish occur commonly in some areas, just not around SE Florida to my knowledge. Makes me wonder if something has changed here if these guys have suddenly become more common in shallow areas.


An oarfish

Heard through the grapevine that a juvenile oarfish had recently been seen, but this guy doesn't seem to have the right hair-do for that species. Wonder if this one is also what the others saw. . .

 

[ft.lauderdale diver]

Very timely post.. I was on the Mary St. Philipps wreck off Pompano last week and coming up on the anchor at about 30-40 ft I saw the same type of fish posted above. I was going to post a description but the pictures are worth a 1000 words! I thought it was a mutant needlefish! Maybe they are here to start attacking the lionfish. which are growing ever too quickly in numbers..

 

[RickI]

Thank you for your post. Was it just one individual or a school? Was it aligned head downward toward the bottom until you approached? It would be good to pass word of this around. I believe Ribbonfish, if that is what this is, do occur in our waters but are fairly rare. At least that is the short term impression I am gathering. I am not sure what would cause their numbers to increase on our reefs.

 

[RickI]

I communicated with some Florida fisheries biologists. They indicated that the cutlassfish, not ribbonfish, is fairly common in brackish inland water way areas but they are rarely found on our reefs. One theorized that with the major freshwater outflow associated with TS Isaac that the cutlassfish headed offshore in search of more saline water. He felt this is a temporary situation. Although I've spent many hours doing boat hulls and seawall inspections in the ICW over the decades I still have never seen one of these guys there before. Just as well, my reaction in seeing one in 12 inch visibility wedged between a silt bottom and a boat hull wouldn't likely be a good one!

 

[mntlblok]

I communicated with some Florida fisheries biologists. They indicated that the cutlassfish, not ribbonfish, is fairly common in brackish inland water way areas but they are rarely found on our reefs. One theorized that with the major freshwater outflow associated with TS Isaac that the cutlassfish headed offshore in search of more saline water. He felt this is a temporary situation. Although I've spent many hours doing boat hulls and seawall inspections in the ICW over the decades I still have never seen one of these guys there before. Just as well, my reaction in seeing one in 12 inch visibility wedged between a silt bottom and a boat hull wouldn't likely be a good one!

How about running into *this* one?? Cutlassfish -- quaky productions Apparently these rascals can get some size to them, too.