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I spent most of July this year in Queensland (mostly doing volunteer work), and while I was there I got to do a bit of snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazingly beautiful, but unfortunately I don’t have any books on saltwater fish and therefore have little idea as to the identities of the reef denizens. Is anyone here an expert at Southwest Pacific reef fish?

Here are the photos... There are a lot of them.

1. The reef from above. It looks calm here, but the swells during the 1.5 hour ride out there were huge, about 10-15 feet I’d say. The boat was pretty big and was travelling fast, but I felt sorry for the people who didn’t take any seasickness meds before we left.




2. The necessary “I’m going to make this my FaceBook profile pic!” shot.




3. Wrasse? Parrotfish? I can’t tell if this one has a beak or not. Is that the only difference between them?




4. Some kind of yellow and blue tang... These were one of the most common fish there.




5. Shoal of big stripey damselfish.




6. Giant rainbow parrotfish.




7. I was taking some pictures when I turned around and noticed a huge school of at least 100 parrotfish coming right towards me. Are the blue ones and the red ones the same species?








8. Some kind of big-nosed fish. I think it’s a tang?




9. Yellow butterflyfish.




10. Another big-nosed tang.




11. More yellow butterflyfish.




12. This parrotfish is so late 80s...




13. A couple of assorted wrasses.




14. A fish with big eyes.




15. Butterflyfish with orange stripes.




16. NEMO!!! Clownfish with white tails.




17. A big bass-like fish with green eyeshadow.




18. Big school of striped fish with a parrotfish in the background.




19. More clownfish... Also, there is some other kind of damselfish hiding in the anemone as well (it’s dark and harder to see).




20. A very blue parrotfish.




21. Yellow and blue butterflyfish.




22. Some kind of birdmouth wrasse?




23. Some more big-eyed fish.




24. A cool-looking wrasse.




25. Some blue coral.




26. More assorted wrasses.




27. A black-and-white damselfish.




28. I wonder how many centuries it took this thing to reach this size?




29. I’m pretty sure this one is an angelfish.




30. Another big-eyed fish.




31. Huge pufferfish... It must have been nearly two feet long including the tail. It didn’t like me following it.






32. OMG! What is this?! It looked like it could have snapped my arm off like a twig with its beak. It was at least three feet long.








33. Another pufferfish.




34. Another yellow butterflyfish.




35. A green birdmouth wrasse?




36. A black/yellow butterflyfish.




37. A spotted fish that thought I couldn’t see it.




38. Is this one a grouper?




39. Some artsy-fartsy butterflyfish.






40. Some kind of goatfish?




41. A half black, half green wrasse (or parrotfish?).




42. Boxfish!

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Sorry but half of the pics are cropped short. AND I WANT TO SEE! The few that I can make out are gorgeous.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Half the photos cropped? That's weird... They should all be 750 pixels on their widest dimension. Or are they cropped horizontally, like they didn't load all the way? You might try pressing ctrl+F5 and see if that helps. There are about 50 photos and they're all about 200kb each, so that's the reason for the dial-up warning in the title.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Natalie

It sure is a fantastic place I have been up there several times, diving and fishing. To see the reef at its best is from a low flying plane from Cairns to the tip of Cape York or travelling slow in a glass bottom boat. The further north you go go the better it gets especially in the Torris Straits. Less pollution and less people.

What part of the reef were you diving at it looks rather murky had there been any rain in the area.

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Keith


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This was done out of Cairns, where I stayed for a few days. I think I remember some people saying that the water tends to be a bit murkier in the winter, but over all it's the best season to go diving because at other times of the year there are jellyfish and more stormy weather. It had rained a bit the day before we went out there. Some of the shots are also taken from far away, which makes them look cloudier.

I was also in Port Douglas for a while as well, which isn't too far from Cairns, but the water seemed more clear (I didn't do any snorkelling there, though).

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

OMG!!
Beautiful!
Thanks for posting them...Wow.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks! At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but I'm glad I did.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Nice pics! Let me take a whack at this...

I will preface this by saying parrots are hard to id because they change colors; the younger fish and females are one color, then transform into male coloration later.

4. Acanthurus lineatus.
5. They're definitely one of the sergeant major (Abudefduf) species, such as A. vaigiensis.
7. Yes, they are the same species. The red ones are the females, while the colored ones are males. Not sure of the species.
8. If it's got a nose, it's a Naso. Not sure which.
9. Latticed butterfly, Chaetodon rafflesii
10. Another Naso, possibly Naso unicornis? Again, not sure.
11. I think this is Chaetodon trifasciatus.
13. The one on the right is a checkerboard wrasse, Halichoeres hortulanus, I believe. Not sure about the other, but I've seen it or a similar fish before.
15. Ornate butterfly, Chaetodon ornatissimus
16. Barrier Reef clowns, Amphiprion akindynos.
18. Man, I know I've seen these before, but I don't know what they're called. I'm also unsure on the parrot.
19. Amphiprion melanopus or A. rubrocinctus would be my guess...
21. Appropriately, the blueblotch butterfly, Chaetodon plebeius. There's another Chaetodon in that pic I can't identify.
22. I think there are only two birdmouth wrasses (Gomphosus). This looks like a female G. varius, but if I'm wrong then it's G. caeruleus.
29. Regal Angelfish, Pygoplites diacanthus
31. Arothron hispidus, I think.
32. Green humphead parrotfish, Bolbometopon muricatum
33. Looks like Arothron nigropunctatus.
34. Same as 11.
35. Male Gomphosus varius.
36. Chaetodon baronessa.
37. Epinepheles spilotoceps, but possibly another Epinepheles if I didn't look hard enough.
38. Yes, it's a grouper, but I'm not sure what kind.
39. Chaetodon ephippium.
40. Parupeneus barberinus.
41. Ostracion meleagris?

Whew. That took a while.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Awesome, thanks... As far as I can tell, those IDs are spot-on.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Here are some more pictures that initially didn't make the cut because of quality issues, but contain unknown (but potentially identifiable) fish. I found a book that has a small marine fish section, so think I might be able to identify a couple of these.


43. Close-up of a small wrasse in one of the above photos.




44. Female Blue-Spotted Boxfish (?) and unknown tang.




45. Butterflyfish and wrasse... I think the wrasse is the same kind that was in the photo of the big school of fish.




46. I think this is a wrasse, but I’m not sure.




47. Close-up of some fish in one of the above photos. I think the gray one with the orange and yellow is interesting, and I have no idea even what order it belongs to.




48. Another spotted fish that thought I couldn’t see it... I think it’s related to the one above?




49. Black-and-white damselfish and a brown tang.




50. No idea.




51. Little damselfish with blue spots.




52. Giant colorful wrasse/parrotfish.




53. Yellow Goatfish?




54. Long-nosed Butterflyfish?




55. Some sort of pink/orange wrasse with stripes.




56. Another shot of the green eyeshadow fish from my first post.




57. More butterflyfish.




58. Moorish Idols?




59. Vagabond Butterflyfish?




60. Is the little stripey guy some sort of cleaner fish? It’s hard to see in this photo, but it has an orange tail.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

11/34. Actually, these guys are Chaetodon lunulatus. C. trifasciatus is its relative in the Indian Ocean; this happens with at least a few of the butterfly species.
12. Apparently a wrasse: Thalassoma hardwicke.
18. Could be Caesio caerulaurea.
23. Could be Monotaxis grandoculis.
27. Dischistodus melanotus.
43. Yup, looks like a checkerboard wrasse.
44. Could indeed be a female Ostracion meleagris. Not sure about the tang.
45. Chaetodon melannotus is my guess on the butterfly.
48. Hard to tell from this angle, but it could be Parapercis hexophtalma. This is not a close relative of the other fish.
49. I'm guessing the black/white damsel is Chromis margaritifer, but there are numerous black/white species that have varying amounts of white on the tail/fins. Not sure about the tang.
53. I'm seeing yellow goatfish identified as "Parupeneus cyclostomus".
54. Quite right, Forcipiger flavissimus, unless there is a similar species since I'm not aware of.
58. Yup, the one and only Moorish Idol, Zanclus cornutus.
59. The fish pictured lacks one of the black shapes that C. vagabundus has. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what species it could be.
60. Looks like a cleaner, though I doubt it if it has an orange tail. Could be Diproctacanthus xanthurus.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I'll have a stab at some of these (without reading Shini's list beforehand!). Below are the ones I can identify.

[4] This is Acanthurus lineatus, listed in Burgess' Mini-Atlas as attaining an andult SL of 38 cm.

[5] The striped Damselfishes are one of the various species of Sergeant Major, of which Abudefduf saxatilis is merely the best known. This particular species out of the possibilities has a circumtropical distribution, so it's possible that it's the one you're looking at, though there are numerous others.

[8] I would say that you have here a specimen of Naso tuberosus, a 60 cm Surgeonfish. Like other members of the Genus, it is distinguished from other Surgeonfishes in two ways. First, the 'scalpels' present on the caudal peduncle are permanently erect instead of being folded back into a sheat, and second, members of the Genus Naso have two pairs of 'scalpels' instead of one.

[9] For once this Chaetodon caused me some identification headaches.

[10] Most likely candidate for that fish in my view is Naso lituratus, usually known as the Japanese Tang or Lipstick Tang. It's one of the most northerly distributed of all surgeonfishes, hence the name Japanese Tang (it can be found off the southern coast of Kyushu island, the southernmost part of Japan proper, and around the Ryukyu Islands further south), and the markings on the face of an adult specimen soon tell you why this is known as a Lipstick Tang.

[11] Those Butterfly Fishes I recognised instantly. This is Chaetodon trifasciatus, the Rainbow Butterfly Fish, which is mentioned in all the aquarium books as a species to avoid because it is an obligate corallivore - it will only eat live coral polyps. The trouble is, its brilliant colours result in some specimens being captured for the aquarium trade regardless. Unfortunately, this is bad news for the fish in question.

[12] Are you sure that was a parrotfish? Only that fish is an exact match with my Burgess' Mini-Atlas image of a wrasse, Thalassoma hardwicke.

[13] The right hand wrasse in that photo is Halichoeres hortulanus. The combination of three yellow spots along the back, edging into the dorsal fin, combined with the striped face, is diagnostic here.

[14] This is Lethrinus obsoletus, a member of a Family called the Sparidae, closely related to the Haemulidae or Grunts.

[15] That is Chaetodon ornatissimus, an unmistakable Butterfly Fish. That you have seen two of them together is indicative that you chanced upon a mated pair. It's another of the 'species to avoid' in aquarium books, because persuading it to eat foods other than live coral polyps is very difficult, and even veteran marine aquarists are advised to approach this species with caution.

[16] There are two species which match this - Amphiprion chrysogaster and Amphiprion chrysopterus.

[17] Looks to me like a Hypoplectrus species, but without seeing side markings, difficult to determine to species level.

[18] That is one of the Fusiliers, most likely Pterocaesio tile.

[19] Most likely Amphiprion melanopus.

[21] Unmistakable. Chaetodon plebeius.

[27] This is Dischistodus melanotus.

[29] Unmistakable. This is Pygoplites diacanthus, the Royal Empress Angelfish. It has a wide distribution, from the Red Sea all the way to various Micronesian islands.

[30] Tentatively identified as Haemulon parrai, one of the Grunts.

[31] One of the colour forms of Arothron stellatus in my view. This pufferfish is polymorphic. Oh, and it can reach a metre in length. Though some colour forms of the Dog Faced Puffer, Arothron hispidus, can also look like this and reach a similar size.

[33] Grey form of Arothron nigropunctatus.

[34] Chaetodon trifasciatus again.

[35] Gomphosus coeruleus accompanying Acanthurus lineatus.

[36] Wow! You were lucky to see that. That is Chaetodon baronessa, the Baroness Butterfly Fish. A real rarity!

[38] Possibly Cephalopholis analis.

[39] Chaetodon ephippium. Unmistakable.

[40] You have a choice of two here, namely Parupeneus forsskalii and Parupeneus barberinus.

[43] Halichoeres hortulanus again.

[44] That Boxfish is probably one of the many colour forms of Ostracion meleagris.

[45] The Butterfly Fish is Chaetodon melannotus.

[46] "Super Male" Thalassoma bifasciatum, or Bluehead Wrasse.

[49] Black & white Damselfish is Chromis dimidiata. Tang looks suspiciously like Ctenochaetus strigosus.

[51] That Damselfish looks suspiciously to me like Plectroglyphidodon lachrymatus.

[53] Parupeneus cyclostomus.

[54] Forcipiger longirostris, which can be told from the similar Forcipger flavissimus by the fact that the mouth is even longer, and ends in an eye-dropper like aperture, whilst flavissimus has mainfestly visible jaws when it opens its mouth.

[57] chaetodon citrinellus. Line along edge of anal fin is the giveaway, it's a diagnostic feature of this species.

[58] Yes, Moorish Idols, Zanclus cornutus.

[59] Actually, that herringbone pattern says to me Chaetodon trifascialis.

Parrotfish are a pain to identify, because some are polymorphic, and many of them have radically diifferent juvenile and adult colouration (as is the case with Pomacanthus angels). For example, look up Cetoscarus bicolor, which is bright orange and white as a juvenile, but blue and green as an adult.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks for the help, guys.

I think I'm going to have to invest in a good book on fish from this region to maybe identify all the unknown wrasses/parrotfish.

I did make a giant post about these fish on Fishbase that had perhaps a few dozen photos, but when I went back to check on it the next day it had been deleted! I emailed the forum collaborator person about it and he said the system thought it was spam because of all the photo links and automatically deleted it! I'm still too mad to type it all out again and post it, and it will probably just get deleted again anyway.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Might be a good idea to obtain a good book on parrotfishes worldwide, because identifying these fishes can be a serious headache, and if you engage in any major excursions to reefs around the world, you'll be glad I advised you to seek a publication with a wider remit.

Of course, if you could obtain a copy of Bleeker's Atlas Ichthyologique, that would solve a lot of your problems, but even reprints of that are hideously expensive, and an original first edition, if it ever appeared for sale, would be auctioned at Sotheby's, and probably fetch a large five figure sum!

TFH did a reprint series of this some time ago, but even that reprint series will leave you precious little change from $1,000 US.

Oh, and I just checked ... this website quotes 25,000 Euros for an original edition.

[Edited to fix tags]

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002