Some Bonaire I.D.s

[drrich2]

Hi:

Made it to Bonaire a week in December. Working on a Blurb book from the trip, for which I've got a coupon that's about to expire, so the pressure's on. Got a few things I'd like to get good I.D.s on, if you guys can help.

Pic. #1.) I know what a Sharp-tail eel, blue-striped grunt, Spanish hogfish & schoolmaster are. The 2'nd fish, though, is that a Graysby? I'm thinking it is, but I'm not good with the little grouper types.



Pic #2.) A Grouper, maybe 2 feet long? What kind? Doesn't look to me like a Nassau or Yellowfin.



Pic #3.) Hawksbill Sea Turtle, right?



Pic #4.) Green Sea Turtle, right?



Pic #5.) I've seen Coney's, generally black with blue speckles, but what's up with this loud yellow base color? Is it a different species, a mutant, a male in breeding color or what?



Pic #6.) Are these grey snappers? They hang around the pier at Buddy Dive.



Pic #7.) This crab was found inside the lower portion of that boat wreck you can reach by entering at Buddy Dive and heading north toward the Cliff. Someone recently posted a pic of a similar crab from a different part of the world, so evidently many crabs aren't real distinctive. My Bonaire Reef I.D. card just mentions a 'Coral Crab.' I did some Googling, but came up with a Channel Cling Crab; Jeremy Anschel with Living Underwater showed me a CCC in Cozumel and this looks way different from that. I'd guess this guy is baseball sized or thereabouts.



Thanks for any help, guys.

[Jim Greenfield]

2 Tiger grouper
3 Agree
6 Coney - golden phase
7 Agree

[drrich2]

Thanks! Especially on the Tiger Grouper; good to know. Adds another species of grouper to the list I've seen. So the last pic is just called a 'Coral Crab?'

Anybody are to confirm if that's a Graysby in the first pic, and whether the 2'nd sea turtle is a Green sea turtle?

Richard.

[knotical]

Looking at Humann's Reef Creature ID book, #7 appears to be a Batwing Coral Crab (Carpilius corallinus) AKA coral crab, red coral crab and queen crab.

[LouisJ]

Yep, Graysby. See the nice round tail. Tiger Grouper, Epinephelus tigris Hawksbill Green Turtles Coney Grey Snapper Batwing Coral Crab

[mathauck0814]

The eel, I remember someone in Curacao calling that critter a "stake tipped" or "stake tailed" or "stake something". YMMV

[drrich2]

Thanks, guys. You've been a huge help. I like to get I.D.s right in these Blurb books I get made as momentos (and they are a neat way to share dive adventures with others, since you can narrate the photos and tell a story).

That is a sharp-tail eel hunting in Pic. 1. They get mistaken for sea snakes a lot, so much so that whenever someone claims to've seen a sea snake in the Caribbean, this is my 'go to' main suspect.

Glad to know about the grey snappers, too. I can I.D. blue-striped grunts, French grunts, sergeant majors, blue tang (Caribbean version), school masters and a few other common reef fish in Bonaire, but some of the 'plainer' looking ones throw me.

What's also interesting to me is what I've seen elsewhere in the Caribbean & yet in 5 trips to Bonaire, not here so far. Gray Angelfish and Pork Fish come to mind.

Richard.

P.S.: In the pic with the gray snappers, are the few with the yellow fins something else?

[LouisJ]

P.S.: In the pic with the gray snappers, are the few with the yellow fins something else?

Lutjanus apodus, Schoolmaster.

[VinoBambinos]

Your Pic#1 I have on video from a January dive on Bonaire. The sharp-tail was feeding in the coral rubble and the fish were competing for whatever emerged. A cool site to watch.