Jew Fish.....

[TwoBitTxn]

You all keep talking about 100-500 lb fish. How big is that? Length, girth, etc.

When these fish get agressive towards your speared fish, what do they do.. do they bite? I have heard of divers getting "boomed" I can understand that. I don't understand much of the rest.

TwoBit

 

[archman]

This is what fishbase says...

Max. size: 250 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 26550); max. published weight: 455.0 kg (Ref. 4841)
Environment: reef-associated; brackish; marine ; depth range - 100 m
Climate: subtropical; 35°N - 25°S
Importance: fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
Resilience: Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.13; tm=5.5-6.5)
Distribution:
Gazetteer Western Atlantic: Florida, USA to southern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Eastern Atlantic: Senegal to Congo (reported as Epinephelus esonue, Ref. 2739, 6809); rare in Canary Islands (Ref. 6808). Eastern Pacific: Gulf of California to Peru.
Morphology: Dorsal spines (total): 11; Dorsal soft rays (total): 15-16; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 8. Head long. Opercle with 3 flat spines, middle one the largest. Pelvic fins smaller than the pectorals. Bases of soft dorsal and anal fins covered with scales and thick skin. Juveniles tawny with irregular vertical bands.
Biology: A solitary species (Ref. 26340) occurring in shallow, inshore areas. Found on rock, coral, or mud bottoms (Ref. 5217). Juveniles found in mangrove areas and brackish estuaries (Ref. 5217). Large adults may be found in estuaries (Ref. 5217). Adults appear to occupy limited home ranges with little inter-reef movement. Feeds primarily on crustaceans, particularly spiny lobsters as well as turtles and fishes, including stingrays. Territorial near it's refuge cave or wreck where it may show a threat display with open mouth and quivering body. Larger individuals have been known to stalk and attempt to eat divers. Over-fished, primarily by spear fishing (Ref. 9710). Marketed fresh and salted. Meat is of excellent quality. Important game fish (Ref. 9342). Reported to reach weights of more than 315 kg (Ref. 26938).
Red List Status: Critically Endangered, see IUCN Red List (A1d+2d) , Sadovy, Y. , (Ref. 36508) , IUCN Grouper and Wrasse Specialist Group
Dangerous: traumatogenic , Halstead, B.W.. 1980

I'm not sure what "traumatogenic" means. Sounds fun.

 

[mempilot]

"Larger individuals have been known to stalk and attempt to eat divers."

Seriously?!

 

[Rick Murchison]

This is what fishbase says...
Larger individuals have been known to stalk and attempt to eat divers...
I'm not sure what "traumatogenic" means. Sounds fun.

Trauma - trauma
genic - create; make
traumatogenic means they have great big strong jaws and a powerful bite that can result in "blunt trauma" type wounds of consequence, even though they don't have big teeth. Manny had one chow down on his arm and got a pretty good bruise.
Never heard of anyone getting seriously hurt by one that wasn't on the end of a spear.
------------
Now I've been messing with Jewfish a long time... I can see how someone *might* characterize their behavior as "stalking" but I wouldn't call it that. Jewfish like to look at stuff - including divers. On many a dive I've waited patiently for the Jewfish others have chased off to return and check me out, and they generally will, within a couple minutes of others leaving.
I've been nose-to-nose with 500 pounders for minutes at the time, just sorta watching each other. Sometimes I wonder if the fish is thinking how to swallow my whole head, but I've never had one make an aggressive move at all so long as I wasn't spearfishing.
All in all I like Jewfish and I'd like to see 'em make a full recovery in their former numbers and range.
Rick

 

[Scubakevdm]

I see bigg'ns on a regular basis. There's one spot where we have been seeing as many as 12 fish, between 300-700 lbs. consistantly. I think they showed up right after the hurricanes. Anyway, whenever I drop in on this spot, I always look East and sure enough there's a group of them sitting there wathcing me, shoulder to shoulder like a bunch of big old Mafia brutes. They're all like "What??? Fuggetaboutit."
There's another one that lived on on of the wrecks, he was smaller, about 200 lbs. I think people had been feeding him because he used to swim all up on you acting like a cat that wants you to feed it. He thrumped me one time. It churned my internal organs all around. Sorta like a gut massage. Here is a picture of that fish and I.

Anyway, you may notice that I'm kneeling in the sand. One of the things that made me think that this guy had been fed is that if you knelt in the sand he would come running. If you hovered, he stayed about 6' away. The fish is about 1' in front of me in this shot. There were times that he was much closer. When he was behind me it was kinda freaky because the only gauge I had for what was going on was the expression on the photographer's face. I know him quite well and I'm pretty sure that if the thing had clamped onto my head he would have gotten some shots first, then seen if he could have done anything to help.
I am 6'1", 225 lbs.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Here he is without me. This is at the screw of the Capt. Tony. So is the other one, but you can just see a tiny bit of the hull in that shot. They are from the same dive.

 

[Quetzal]

very nice photos

 

[flyinghuntster]

These Pix say a thousand words!!!!

 

[CBulla]

They say "Add butter and garlic on a hot cast iron skillet"

 

[archman]

I don't know Kev, I'd call the one you photographed "sort of large". Hmmm... looks in the 300-400 lb range. Give him another twenty years and he might try to eat you with a fair degree of success.