Huge school of fish at Whytecliff

[FishLovingStudent]

So while we were making our way to the anenome garden from the Cut, I (my buddies missed them) saw this humongous school of small fish (maybe ten feet wide, ten feet long, and extended from 50 to 20 FSW).

Kinda hard to see in the video, all the twinkling is fish, but can anybody attempt to ID?

[video=youtube;15yBUqCXz80]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15yBUqCXz80&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[PeterNBiddle]

The water is green water. Pretty common to Canada.

 

[AngieSeaAnemone]

From the oval body shape and silvery flash, they're probably a surfperch (Family Embiotocidae, for you taxonomy lovers). There is 4 species that I know of in BC: shiner surfperch (Cymatogaster aggregata), striped surfperch (Embiotoca lateralis), kelp perch (Brachyistius frenatus) and pile perch (Rhacochilus vacca). Without a closer look at their patterning it's impossible to tell which one it is. When I've seen schools at Whytecliff they've been much smaller and almost always pile perch.

 

[FishLovingStudent]

They were definitely not any kind of perch, I would have been able to recognize them. I've never seen perch in groups this large either, there were at least a couple hundred if not a thousand+ in this school. They resembled more like an Anchovie, but I do not recall the patterns and head shape to have made an ID after looking back at the footage. Was just wondering if there was a common species that does this locally.

 

[DaleC]

I say Sand Lance

[video=youtube;Q1xmRDspELY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1xmRDspELY[/video]

[video=youtube;8OeGVIgl1xM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OeGVIgl1xM[/video]

[video=youtube;UUVwufNbpsc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUVwufNbpsc[/video]

 

[FishLovingStudent]

Hmmm, very similar Dale. They were not as elongate though and had rounded heads though, but maybe I remember them wrong. They were also nowhere near sand (but I do not know if that makes any difference)

 

[Agamemnon]

I saw a large school of juvenile herring at Whytecliff in June and have heard they've been coming back to Howe Sound in the last few years. I have a very similar video and saw them in the 20' range.

 

[AngieSeaAnemone]

If they were definitely not a perch then they could be herring! If so, I'm jealous because that's a pretty uncommon occurrence here.

 

[Agamemnon]

I saw them the last 3 years at whytecliff - always between the daymarker and the cut in the shallows and always when the water was super murky, which would make sense as they are filter feeders.

 

[FishLovingStudent]

Well, look what I found in the shallows of Kelvin Grove! Dale's sand lace

p.s. Also saw a Tiger Rockfish too but it fled into a hole and disappeared before I could get a good shot
[video=youtube_share;wA3lppFdxNo]http://youtu.be/wA3lppFdxNo[/video]