Catalina Pictures 10-11 Nov

[D_B]

Wow .. fantastic viz, and pics to boot!

63* at depth??? my last dive on the Yukon was 55* at 80ft ... Man, I wish I went

 

[riguerin]

Amazing images ! Thanks for sharing.

 

[QQQ99999]

Absolutely great photos. Thanks.

I don't mean to highjack the thread (my apologies) but I had a (hopefully) quick question regarding the guitarfish. I too would have thought it to be an Angel Shark. Is there any easy way to differentiate between a guitarfish and an angel shark?

TIA

 

[paradicio]

Honestly, I thought it was an angel shark, just by comparing pictures of those I've seen to the one in the original post.

The Pacific angelshark is dorsoventrally flattened with a terminal mouth at the tip of snout. Resembling angel wings, the pectoral fins are quite broad and separated from the head. This characteristic distinguishes angelsharks from the rays which have pectoral fins that are completely attached to the sides of the head.

Quoted from here.

The fish pictured above looks like it's pectoral fins are separated from the head, which led me to believe it was an angel shark, not a guitar fish.

The shovelnose guitarfish Rhinobatos productus is an evolutionarily, ecologically, and economically important ray...

Quoted from here.

However, I was not on the dive and didn't get a first hand look at it.

Regardless, it looks like it was a fantastic dive! I'm supposed to be going to the dive park this weekend, and now I can't wait!

 

[jarhed]

Is there any easy way to differentiate between a guitarfish and an angelshark?

Angel Sharks tend to bury themselves and ambush prey. They look pretty similar to the guitarfish, but flatter. I think that the subject of the picture is a variety of a guitarfish, but after consulting several more references, the nose lookes much blunter than most pics of guitarfish I can find, perhaps I need to do more research here.

Here's a picture (not a good one...) of an angel shark off Anacapa a few years ago.

when DR BILL returnes, perhaps he can provide a few more details.


Take care,
John

 

[Travelnsj]

Foe moment I thought it maybe a shovel nose ray.....except the head is a bit different.

 

[CompuDude]

I'm 99.9% sure that's an angel shark, not a shovel nose guitar fish. Both are common to the area, but the shovel nose guitar fish has a much more pointed head, and is less muscular looking.

Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department: Pacific Angelshark

Pacific Angel Shark:

Shovel Nose Guitar fish:

 

[jarhed]

Yea, I think you're right, I need a better fish ID book.

Appreciate the tip
John

 

[scottfiji]

great angel shark photo John. fyi, if it was a guitarfish, it would be swimming way too fast to get that photo!

if you email me a photo, I'll add it to this week's LA JPEGS of the week...

Scott
sgietler (its a ya-hu email account)