Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:36 pm Post subject: critter query?
Here's one for the marine biologists!
I have trawled Finstrokes, google images, Paul Naylor's books on South West Marine animals and most other resources I can find but am stumped as to what fish I saw.......
The little fellow was about 4 or 5 inches in length, plonked on top of kelp (2m deep), not fat like a blenny, not large like pollack and definitely not wrasse-like.
Here's the stumper bit.... He/She was bright green....like fluorescent highlighter pen green. <greener than this too!
Not being photoed up I can only go by my description.
Horse Mackerel looks too big. It looked liked it could've belonged to the small and thinner Goldsinny family, but it wasn't a wrasse!!! aarrgghh this will bleeding annoy me.
Mystery solved. Green fish fellow was a "rock cook" Centrolabrus exoletus. So despite my vast (!) marine knowledge, insisting that it wasn't a wrasse.....it was.
Seasearch told me that it is extremely rare for them to be bright green. They change colour often and are usually pale reddish brown with blue stripes, but they can also change into a two-tone colour! They act as cleaners for the bigger ballan wrasse (which we saw loads of huge ones on the night dive, some were so docile I even picked the fellow up!) Seasearch have asked me to record it's position draw a wee pic etc etc......However, during the dive RFA Largs Bay (16,000 ton amphibious assault ship) passed over us. Um, it was 10m above us. I could see the rear props with my torch beam, therefor I am slightly reluctant to follow up my sighting as the MoD might be a bit dischuffed that my buddy and I never reported that we would be diving in 'their' shipping channel!! Lovely noise a ship of that size makes!
Fishy fellow.
Thought I may as well share the profile too just to show you what not to do!
"Dinner" was two large edible crabs (shell was 13.5" across!) boy did he put up a fight. Red line is (cough) deco. sharp ascent is "dude, let's get outta here alive!"
And if you think that was stupid, wait until next Saturdays report!!
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