Help needed with Philippines fish

[vondo]

I've got about 15 fish I cannot seem to ID from a trip to Moalboal and Dauin. It seems like a lot, but I was at least 95% successful. Thanks for any help you can give!


Obviously a goatfish but I can't find a match for the markings.


Shrimpgoby of some sort


Another shrimpgoby


I would guess a tilefish, but I cannot find it


I can't find the right combination of such a long snout with a squared off tail


Lizardfish of some sort?


Spotted Sand Diver. [-]I believe a sand diver, but I can't definitively match up the two different fish I saw with the two species described in the ReefID books.[/-]


[-]Should be easy, but I couldn't positively do this one either.[/-] Longface Emperor

 

[vondo]

A blennie of some sort?


Another stocky shrimp goby


I would have guessed hawkfish, but cannot find it


Waspfish? But which one?


Checkered snapper [-]Would have thought a sweetlips but cannot find it.[/-]


Just can't find him.


or him.

Thanks for looking.

 

[dimac]

From the first set

5 looks like a crocodile needlefish
and 8 an emperor fish

 

[vondo]

From the first set

5 looks like a crocodile needlefish
and 8 an emperor fish

Yes, #8 is a Longface Emperor. #5 is the right size (I remember it being good sized). But the Crocodile Needlefish is supposed to have a forked tail and this does not, hence my confusion.

 

[Jim Greenfield]

First list:
1 Probably Dash-&-dot Goatfish - Parupeneus barberinus but may be P. macronemua, Longbarbel Goatfish. Colour very variable and many goatfish assume weird, bright colours when wanting cleaning
2 Possibly Ambanoro Prawn Goby - Vanderhorstia ambanoro. Really need a side view.

Second list
1 It is a goby as it has two dorsal fins. Looks like it may be the Gorgeous Prawn Goby, Amblyeleotris wheeleri. A bit over-exposed but if you tone it down, you will see this i.d. is possible.
2 Suggest Mahidolia mystacina - Flagfin Prawn Goby. Never seen one
3 This is a wrasse - maybe Oxycheilinus arenatus or rientalis. Very variable depending on sex, life stage, food, surroundings etc and difficult to tell apart
4 Yes Waspfish but you will need a clearer pic to work out which.
5 Yes Checkered Snapper
6 ? maybe a wrasse of some sort
7 Dartfish. Possibly a Blackfin but it is very pale, Ptereleotris evides

Suggest you search around these suggestions to satisfy yourself. Have you looked at Fishbase? Good luck

 

[vondo]

First list:
1 Probably Dash-&-dot Goatfish - Parupeneus barberinus but may be P. macronemua, Longbarbel Goatfish. Colour very variable and many goatfish assume weird, bright colours when wanting cleaning
2 Possibly Ambanoro Prawn Goby - Vanderhorstia ambanoro. Really need a side view.

Second list
1 It is a goby as it has two dorsal fins. Looks like it may be the Gorgeous Prawn Goby, Amblyeleotris wheeleri. A bit over-exposed but if you tone it down, you will see this i.d. is possible.
2 Suggest Mahidolia mystacina - Flagfin Prawn Goby. Never seen one
3 This is a wrasse - maybe Oxycheilinus arenatus or rientalis. Very variable depending on sex, life stage, food, surroundings etc and difficult to tell apart
4 Yes Waspfish but you will need a clearer pic to work out which.
5 Yes Checkered Snapper
6 ? maybe a wrasse of some sort
7 Dartfish. Possibly a Blackfin but it is very pale, Ptereleotris evides

Suggest you search around these suggestions to satisfy yourself. Have you looked at Fishbase? Good luck

Thanks a lot. I'm fully satisfied with most of suggestions. I guess I can't edit the original post anymore. I've tried to use Fishbase before. I find it's good for confirming things but not so great for browsing. Maybe I need to look again or I'm using it wrong.

 

[Jim Greenfield]

Hi Vondo
I agree, Fishbase is not good for browsing but have you found the "Related Species" link? Once you have looked up a particular fish and it doesn't seem quite right, click this link on the main page (near the top right) and you get a photographic list of all related species. I find it helps a lot. Apols. if you know all this.

 

[Searcaigh]

First List, number 6 is not a Lizardfish, wrong shape nose etc, looks more like a stargazer

 

[wazungu]

The tricky ones: the hawkfish is the juvenile wrasse Cheilinus/Oxycheilinus; the lizardfish is a weeverfish; the "just can't find him" is the wrasse Cirrhilabrus.

 

[vondo]

The tricky ones: the hawkfish is the juvenile wrasse Cheilinus/Oxycheilinus; the lizardfish is a weeverfish; the "just can't find him" is the wrasse Cirrhilabrus.

Fishbase says no "weever fish" in the Pacific. Can you give me a scientific name or family of what you're talking about?