Fish from Layang Layang

[Vie]

Please help me ID this fish - saw it at around 12m swimming about the reef at a site called Dogtooth Lair in Layang Layang. I guesstimate that it's about 24 inches long.

Apologies for the bad picture quality - it's a JPEG file captured from an MPEG movie file.

 

[doole]

I'd say some kind of triggerfish - did he have a spike on his head?

 

[Vie]

I'd say some kind of triggerfish - did he have a spike on his head?

Definitely NOT a triggerfish. Didn't have a "spike" on the head and the fish had ventral fins (which all triggerfish lack).

 

[alcina]

Almost looks like some sort of big puffer-type fish...they have those kinds of fins and the mouth looks like it could be kinda beaky?

 

[archman]

dorsal fin looks thrashed... the camera shot is greatly exaggerating the caudal fin too.

 

[Vie]

Almost looks like some sort of big puffer-type fish...they have those kinds of fins and the mouth looks like it could be kinda beaky?

I don't think so but I still have no idea what it could be. Here's another picture of the same fish; you can clearly see the white ventral fins.

 

[maractwin]

Looks somewhat heavy-bodied to me, like a grouper. The coloration is somewhat like a blacksaddle grouper, but without a better picture that's only a wild guess.

 

[archman]

Looks somewhat heavy-bodied to me, like a grouper. The coloration is somewhat like a blacksaddle grouper, but without a better picture that's only a wild guess.

I concur on the grouper I.D.; body shape and anatomy seem to conform, and I think I see the characteristic mouth. Photo's all blurry.

 

[Vie]

thanks, guys - it is probably some kind of grouper; the colouration is similar but different from a blacksaddle.

 

[isurus]

thanks, guys - it is probably some kind of grouper; the colouration is similar but different from a blacksaddle.

am not convinced its a grouper - could it be a sweetlips or snapper of some kind?