Yellow Belize Grouper Type Fish Help ID Plse

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dierenarts

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Location
Connecticut, USA
# of dives
25 - 49
Diving off Ambergris Caye at Victoria site. This bright yellow 8" fish looks a bit like a small grouper type but I can't find it in my pocket guide.
 

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First guess is a coney in the yellow phase.
 
Probably a Rock Hind in its yellow phase. The lighter spots are an indicator.
 
Probably a Rock Hind in its yellow phase. The lighter spots are an indicator.

Hmmmm. Interesting that a Google search turns up:
Fish ID Quiz 16
where one of the 'wrong' answers is "Rock Hind Yellow Phase". Does this one not have blue spots??

Kevin
 
in some light they appear very pale blue but my impression on review of the video was that is was more to the silver/white side of dot color
 
Grouper color variations can be very tricky. Not only does background color change, but bars and spots may either change color or disappear entirely. Without details such as dorsal spine counts and other differentiating features it's very difficult to tell.

There is an interesting old book (you know, those rectangular heavy paper things) I have written by the famous Charles Haskins Townsend: 'Records of Changes in Color Among Fishes', published by the N.Y. Zoological Society in 1930. It includes only Floridian and Bahamian fishes, but has a lot of data describing groupers. The variations documented by Townsend are astonishing. Some of the chages I've witnessed were virtually instantaneous, almost like an octopus. Other color forms are more stable. Townsend was for many years director of the N.Y. Aquarium. His name is appended to several fish species.
 
Interesting fish because of that spine on the top of the tail, which isn't characteristic for a Coney. I can't see the Coney's lip dots (due to angle?) or the two dots on the base of the tail -- I see one and the other could be there.

The only groupers I've seen that have a yellow phase like this are the Coney and Tiger -- and Tiger it's not.

The tail spine is characteristic of the Red Grouper. Could it be a juvie Red? Hmmm, the dorsal fin may be too spiney but it isn't fully extended in the photo...
 
don't think that is a spine on his tail, i think the freeze frame just caught the dorsal aspect of the tail to be just bent and angled in such a way that it appears as a spine, can I post videos on this site for review? How?
 
Video would be most helpful. There's an "insert video" command on the toolbar -- icon is 2 frames of film.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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