Fish from Layang Layang

[archman]

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

What family do those belong in? We don't have a Caribbean counterpart to that name.

But looking at some online photos using "sweetlips" as a seach term, I see some startling similarities with the fish in the photo. Something called the "Oriental sweetlip" shares many color and body form features.

http://www.golden-ina.com/html/sweetlips.html

Problem is, other online photos of this thing look very different. Multiple use of the same common name, perhaps?

 

[maractwin]

The general shape could be a sweetlips, but I had discounted that because it's a small family and the color pattern didn't match any of them. The adult oriental sweetlip is very different, and at the estimated size (24 inches), it couldn't be a juvenile. Of course, there could be a species in the family I'm not familiar with.

 

[Rick Murchison]

In the second shot do I see a really high anterior dorsal, or is that just the background? This guy's got me stumped.
Vie, you must find this fellow again and get some better shots. It's killin' me that I can't more narrowly ID the thing... as it is, I'd say grouper, sweetlips, or even a big soapfish of some sort.
PIX, PIX... we need more pictures!
(great find, by the way)
S

 

[archman]

The general shape could be a sweetlips, but I had discounted that because it's a small family and the color pattern didn't match any of them.

What Family? I thought they were haemulids (grunts). Is there another one?

Dang common names...

 

[isurus]

What Family? I thought they were haemulids (grunts). Is there another one?

Dang common names...

they are grunts - genus Plectorhinchus. Archman I avoided scientific names cos I didnh't have one - it was a vague general guess and I was hoping someone would jump in with something more specific. I can't find an individual species that fits.

I did wonder about the Macolor genus of snappers too.

 

[Ian T]

that looks very much like a Giant Sweetlips (Plectorhinchus albovittatus) - my fish id book says coloration may vary.. but a likely suspect... maybe ......

 

[Vie]

In the second shot do I see a really high anterior dorsal, or is that just the background? This guy's got me stumped.
Vie, you must find this fellow again and get some better shots. It's killin' me that I can't more narrowly ID the thing... as it is, I'd say grouper, sweetlips, or even a big soapfish of some sort.
PIX, PIX... we need more pictures!
(great find, by the way)
S

Again, apologies for the poor picture quality—I only shot two short MPEG videos of the fish and the pictures are just JPEGs captured from the MPEG files. I think the high anterior dorsal is just the confusing background; I’m sticking with the “some kind of grouper” ID—I don’t think that it is a soapfish. Could be a sweetlip and I did see plenty of Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides around Layang Layang. OTOH, the sweetlips in Layang Layang generally congregated in small groups and did not swim much unless they had to. My mystery fish swam around alot and was bigger. I definitely saw this fish on more than one occasion and no other divers thought that it was unusual.

 

[archman]

Aha, I have it! It's OBVIOUSLY a giant hamlet, mimicking the local sweetlips species.

Yes, my brilliance is astounding. Bask in it.