New fish..don't have a clue ...

[deborahdelamar]

Yes! Looking at the badly-colored photo you just posted, you can see the juvenile coloration in the adult.

Same process definitely won't work for the yellowmouth grouper!

 

[oceanbound]

so those are soap fish? they are all overthe place in Destin. Like dogs sometimes lol

We only have one species of soap fish here (that I have ever seen).. and as they happen to like me (I know that says something bad about me.. just not sure what).. I am usually surrounded by them... I had assumed they were the greater soap fish...

Which is Rypticus saponaceus.. just cannot find any pictures of them as young..

 

[Puffer Fish]

so those are soap fish? they are all overthe place in Destin. Like dogs sometimes lol

I stopped taking pictures of them after about 500 or so images...very friendly.

And you are right (as most of my diving is with scuba tech)..with a little Panama City thrown in for fun.

That image was from the liberty ship.... because we could not get on White Hall (my favorite reef).

 

[oceanbound]

I havn't been to either place; liberty or white hall yet. But those soap fish are all over the jetties and north stack. And they are very friendly, and curious.

 

[designbysue]

What is this one - thought is was white spotted but looks different than those posted here:

 

[deborahdelamar]

Sue - I'd call yours a Freckled with a lot of schumtz. Whitespots don't have dark dots on their bodies and their spots are very white & well defined.

 

[wazungu]

Interesting thread- well, given that the photo is from the northern GOM and the whitespotted replaces the greater and probably the others as well- i would go with the most parsimonious explanation- the original photo is of the newly-settled juvenile, the finely dark-spotted one by designbysue is intermediate and then the numerous adults are all over. none of those phases look "familiar" to us tropical reef types.

ben
coralreeffish.com