Last Critter identification - from Freeport, Bahamas

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

It's absolutely a Cubera Snapper.
 
Most of the cuberas I've seen are much darker than this fish. There more like this:
coiba2A.jpg


I'm leaning to say it's a large gray check this link
The funny thing about that link is that the description of the Cubera says, "Similar to Gray":shakehead:

My point is that the coloring and markings are more consistent with a gray than with a cubera.
 
I realize they get lit up when stressed, but even the ones I have seen in underwater video are much darker. Oh well I'm not loosing sleep over this. Whatever it is, it's a nice fish!
 
Hmmm... hmmm.... hmmm... pronounced bands, lack of a bar through the eye, lips too thick for a Mangrove... Cubera.. Cubera... Cubera...
From the looks of it it's just plain too big to be a Mangrove, too. (never saw a Mangrove big enough to warrant a personal shark sucker)
As for the color, here's a scan (Cubera) from Humann's Reef Fish ID book...
None of that (except the lips... the lips are the ticket, I think) say it can't be a snapper other than a Cubera - after all, all we have is a picture of a fish and not the fish itself to examine - but every indicator I can see points to Cubera.
:)
Rick
 

Attachments

  • humann.jpg
    humann.jpg
    17.7 KB · Views: 39
Many tropical fishes, particularly snappers, have regional color patterns.

For instance, in the Gulf of Mexico, mangrove snapper have at least three different colour patterns based on geographic location.

There's a 4 foot cubera snapper in the Audubon Aquarium that's just shy of dirty white in colour. It's the biggest snapper I've ever seen.
 
There's a 4 foot cubera snapper in the Audubon Aquarium that's just shy of dirty white in colour. It's the biggest snapper I've ever seen.

I have noticed that a lot of aquarium fish do not have the same colors as their brothers out in the wild unless they are recently caught and placed in an aquarium.

Last year I was at Epcot Center and considered doing the dive, but decided against it due to the condition of the fish in the tank. I asked one of the attendants why they looked so differently and he said they needed to add UV light to the aquarium. Apparently the lack of it makes their pigments change. I've also noticed the same with the fish at BassPro shops.
 
I have noticed that a lot of aquarium fish do not have the same colors as their brothers out in the wild unless they are recently caught and placed in an aquarium.

Every cubera snapper I've seen in the Caribbean is dirty white in colour.

Along with lighting, captive-raised fishes also have colour-variation based on diet, behaviour, and a particular point not often mentioned, extreme age.

But yeah, those fancy high powered lights help out a ton.
 
It looks out bay the Airplane wreck from the bottom? I would say A Dog Snapper as described in the Caribbean Reef Fish book. I have pictures of the same fish at the same location. It is near where the do the fish feed! I know I have the picture and I will find it, but that would be my best guess! The Dog has a Strip below the eye, but it may not show or maybe a phase thing? Also Mutton Snapper has the bars in a certain phase. But given the location I have seen that fish!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom