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I have been fishing the waters around Tampa Bay for 30 years and thought I'd seen almost all, but.. The other night I was fishing around the Skyway Bridge and caught a fish I'd not seen before. I've looked in all the search sites I could find and have still not found it. It was about 4-6 inches long, black in color with some white markings. The dorsal fin ran the length of the back and came to a rounded tail. The most unusual feature was on the dorsal fin just above the head, was a white spot outlined in white which made me think that it was a "false eye" marking. It also had a very large mouth in comparison with the size of the body. I threw it back thinking I could find a picture of it later. Anybody know what this might be.

Bill

Sounds like the young of some species of sea bass. Was there a soft/spiny dorsal distinction or was it a single continuous fin?

It was a continous fin something like an eel

Oh. In that case, I'd say you caught yourself a blenny of some sort. Almost all species have some sort of eyespot, often, as stated, in the front of the dorasl, directly above the head.