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Old 09-23-2012, 09:10 PM
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Default Ribbonfish-like critter??? Have you seen these on the reefs before?


https://vimeo.com/50036219


I saw one of these in 90 ft. of water near the surface along a sargassum weed line and a ton of moon jellys today off Ft. Lauderdale on the Sea Experience. We were over the wreck of the "Houseboat" about 3/4 mile north of Sunrise Blvd.. It looks like the moon jelly population explosion this year may be worse than last year from early impressions btw. They kept clogging up my dive scooter in a honking strong south running current. Later, I think I saw a school of these guys on the second dive in about 25 ft. of water over the second reef. A group of about 20 individuals were schooling fairly close together, aligned head down over a sand area. The school was over the eastern portion of the outer second reef about 1/2 mile off Sunrise Blvd.. It is interesting that the school oriented head down towards the nearby bottom. The solitary individual I saw in 85 ft. of water oriented upward towards the nearby sargassum mat as you can see on the video. I didn't capture the teeth too well in these shots. It has a nasty mouthful of backward curved teeth similar to some aphotic species you see. Would think it could make off with a finger fairly easily.





I don't recall having seen any of these guys on or around the reefs before. All the sudden today I see a bunch over two dives?! Have many others seen these very commonly on South Florida reefs or in pelagic areas?

Thanks





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Last edited by ricki; 09-24-2012 at 02:20 PM.
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Old 09-24-2012, 08:29 PM
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Here is a post from scubaboard in response to my inquiry:


Quote:
Originally Posted by ft.lauderdale diver View Post
Very timely post.. I was on the Mary St. Philipps wreck off Pompano last week and coming up on the anchor at about 30-40 ft I saw the same type of fish posted above. I was going to post a description but the pictures are worth a 1000 words! I thought it was a mutant needlefish! Maybe they are here to start attacking the lionfish. which are growing ever too quickly in numbers..
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/flo...ish-reefs.html
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Old 09-25-2012, 09:17 PM
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Looks like this is called a cutless fish, Trichiurus lepturus thanks to some input from SFDH. It has been documented to occur here or at least in Port Everglades at certain times of the year. What is less clear is why more of us apparently haven't seen these on the reefs over the years. http://femar.rsmas.miami.edu/Members...utlassfish.pdf
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Old 09-26-2012, 10:32 PM
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I have learned from a fisheries biologist that cutless fish primarily live in brackish water in our area and don't frequent reef areas. He theorized that the major release of water during the Tropical Storm Isaac event displaced the fish offshore to find more saline conditions. He had even found cutless fish in the gut contents of grouper from the reefs. As such it would appear their presence out there is temporary.
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