Filefish (?) on Bonaire

[thespoons]

I'm trying to identify the fish at the far right. As you can see, there's a female stoplight parrotfish and an orange-spotted filefish to give you a sense of scale. These were all in fairly shallow water (less than 30 feet) on a daytime Bonaire reef shore dive a couple weeks ago (can't remember which one). I didn't actually take particular notice until I got my pictures back, so I can't really tell you much more than that.

The camera is just a disposable underwater one, so the picture quality is lacking. But it looks a bit like some sort of filefish to me. Hard to tell from the top. I looked through Reef Fish ID and haven't found a positive match. Anyone got an idea?

Attached is a larger sized image.

 

[ryan115]

I would say it looks more like a parrot than a file fis; thick body, no dorsal spine, looks like it is swimming with pec fins.
From that angle it is a tough ID but possibly a terminal striped parrot Scarus iseri

 

[Tigerman]

I would say it looks more like a parrot than a file fis; thick body, no dorsal spine, looks like it is swimming with pec fins.
From that angle it is a tough ID but possibly a terminal striped parrot Scarus iseri

Looks an awful lot like parrotfish to me as well.

 

[thespoons]

I would say it looks more like a parrot than a file fis; thick body, no dorsal spine, looks like it is swimming with pec fins.
From that angle it is a tough ID but possibly a terminal striped parrot Scarus iseri

I don't know, I'm not seeing scarus iseri (striped parrotfish).

Just doesn't seem right for the way the stripes are on this fish.

I was also thinking parrotfish in general at first, but the eyes seemed to bulgy and high up for me. But how often do you really pay attention to parrotfish from the top compared to from the side?

 

[Sully3]

its a redband parrotfish. that band under the eye is its namesake, although the red doesn't show up that well in the shot

 

[thespoons]

its a redband parrotfish. that band under the eye is its namesake, although the red doesn't show up that well in the shot

Now THAT sounds like a winner, Sully!

I'm convinced. Thanks!

 

[ryan115]

I'm suprised how much the red shows up on the stoplight but none on the other parrot
however that fish is missing a spot above the pec fins, which is another typical pigmentation on redband

 

[thespoons]

I'm suprised how much the red shows up on the stoplight but none on the other parrot
however that fish is missing a spot above the pec fins, which is another typical pigmentation on redband

Well, one thing to consider is that the stoplights are VERY red, yet it only shows up as barely red. For example, here's another picture of a stoplight with the same camera in a very sunny, shallow area while snorkeling:

You have a point about the stop, but I'm still leaning heavily towards redband.

 

[deborahdelamar]

I'm with Sully -- it's a Redband.