Can we play name that fish/animal?

After getting an underwater camera 2 years ago and snorkeling at various places on cruises, I've taken a lot of pictures of fish and sea life. I've done a lot of research by googling and trying to find out the names of the fish I have photographed. It gets very confusing.

I would be happy as can be if you experts could help me out with naming what type of fish I have in my pictures (or telling me if I have the right name because so many look alike). Thanks in advance.

1)

I thought maybe these were either Permits or Pompanos. I was leaning toward Permits because of the fins being so long.

2)

Yellow tail damsel?

3)

Absolutely no clue...

4)

No clue but thought I seen someone called the a big eye red something or other??

5)

No clue...

6)

Azure Damselfish??

7)

Lizard fish?

8)

No clue...

9)

No clue...

10)

Pretty sure this is a stoplight parrot fish, but want confirmation

11)

I know these are tangs but is there a certain name for each depending on color? (blue, green, yellow and so on).

12)

These little boogers are giving me a headache.

Are they...yellowfin goatfish? or yellow snappers? or grunts?

13)

No clue...some type of angel?

15)

I've seen people call these parrot fish and others call them wrasse. Which is it or are they the same thing? (I do know the colors on these vary depending on if they are male or female and juvenile or adults)

16)

These things I have not been able to find anything remotely close to what they might be and it has completely drove me nuts. There were a bunch of them and they watched us like a hawk. We followed them for awhile. I don't know if they are harmful, but that long nose had me worried and they sure kept their eyes on us. :eek:

17)

My guess is trumpet fish?

18)

Butterfly fish?

19)

No clue since there was only a little yellow on the top and no stripes. Maybe it was an adult and has lost the black stripe that runs through the eye?

20)

Some type of cowfish?

21)

Aren't the black and yellow striped Sargent Majors? Then it looks like some black tangs? I have no clue what the black with the bright red/orange tail, face and fins are.

22)

Pipe fish??

23)

Queen angel fish

24)

Caribbean reef squid?

25)

Trumpet fish? Pipe fish?

26)

Smaller thin yellow stripes...again confused? yellowfin goatfish, yellow snappers, or grunts?

27)

Blob of something that looked like syrofoam...

28)

What type of sting ray?

29)

yellow stripes now up and down instead :confused:

30)

Actually another of the fish above, but it was with one that was black also.

31)

Yellow tang? Not sure because the nose isn't as big as I've normally seen.

32)

These yellow stripes look like they go diagonal.

33)

Yellow tail damselfish?

34)

Yellow stripe front to back, then there's the small yellow and black stripe at the top of the photo.

35)

Azure Damselfish?

36)

Is this a chub? What are the fish in the background called? They are always hanging out in huge groups of hundreds and by the rocks. Are they some type of feeder fish?

37)

Is this a blue tang? The thing was HUGE!!

38)

French Angel Fish?

39)

flamingo tongue sea snail?

40)

trunk fish? smooth trunk fish? spotted trunkfish?

I "think" this is all for now. hehe :D But I would just like to make sure what their names are.

Thanks in advance.

What a fun game! I can not claim to be an expert but my husband and I are SCUBA divers and we've seen a lot of the same creatures. Your photos are great - some of them look like they could be from SCUBA photographers!

Here are my "best guesses" and I'll put a couple of websites that are great resources at the bottom.

1 Palometa

2 Yellowtail Damselfish

3 Rainbow Wrasse

4 Blackbar Soldierfish (in the squirrelfish family)

5 It is a Damselfish but can't see the markings well enough to know what type

6 Azure Damselfish is a good guess - too far a way to know for sure

7 Bluestriped Lizardfish

8 Checkered Puffer

9 Could be a young wrasse of some sort - but can't see him well enough

10 Yellowtail Parrotfish (initial phase (young))

11 Ocean Surgeonfish (on left) & Blue Tang (on right)

12 Yellowtail Snapper

13 Banded Butterflyfish

14 I think 14 is skipped on your list

15 Stoplight Parrotfish (terminal phase (final colors))

16 Ballyhoo! (great name)

17 Trumpetfish

18 Foureye Butterflyfish (we see them in pairs a lot)

19 Pluma Porgy

20 Honeycomb Cowfish

21 Sergeant Majors with Blue Tangs and I'm stumped on the one with the orange

22 Front of him looks like a Trumpetfish - but without the back end? Not sure if it is the photo angle playing tricks?

23 Queen Angelfish

24 Caribbean Reef Squid

25 Trumpetfish

26 Bluestriped Grunt - hard to see the colors for sure though

27 My guess is beginnings of a sponge or coral - but husband thinks it is a polyp stage jellyfish?

28 Yellow Stingray

29 Not positive but might be a Schoolmaster Snapper - stripes only show from above

30 Seems like a parrotfish but hard to tell what colors are in the photo

31 Juvenile Blue Tang (they are yellow as babies)

32 French Grunt

33 Yellowtail Damselfish (your photo shows great colors!)

34 bigger fish is Bluestriped grunt - not sure what black and yellow is?

35 Juvenile Beaugregory

36 Bermuda Chub

37 Blue Tang

38 French Angelfish

39 Flamingo Tongue Snail

40 Juvenile Smooth Trunkfish (trunkfish are the cutest fish (imho))

Great website with tons of photos and ID (scientific names,etc): http://www.reefguide.org

Website with cool Caribbean reef squid photos and education on mating colors:

http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/Ssepioidea.php

**I have to comment that my husband thinks I just completed your Marine Biology homework :-) But I think you are a true fishy enthusiast like I am :-)

Wow :eek: Thanks so much!! That helped out a lot!

I tried to post the best ones I could find but some fish are just too fast sometimes to get them in the right angle for a picture to say "cheese" if you know what I mean. Then we've snorkeled a lot of places that we didn't have the greatest clarity at the time which makes it worse.

These might not help any, but thought I would give it a shot anyhow.

5) (some type of damsel you said maybe) Here's another shot, but he was hiding a lot

6) Azure damsel you thought...

Here's a picture of it from just the top (so you can see the stripes...might help)

21) Better picture of the reddish/orange fish:

I can't find any other pictures for #30. But, I believe he was black.

PS I LOVE TRUNKFISH TOO! And cowfish. They are the cutest things ever.

If you are interested in seeing some other snorkeling pictures, maybe you'll see something that I haven't posted here that you could recognize.

Here's a few links to them:

West Bay Roatan Honduras:

Chankanaab Cozumel:

Maya Chan in Costa Maya (not much snorkeling here, but it is where we found the sting ray, our fish star fish and the thing that looks like a sponge)

St Thomas (Sapphire Beach) http://kimbakersphotography.smugmug.com/Vacation/5th-day-St-Thomas/13875332_gPNF6q#1017703050_nhpoV

Nassau Bahamas: http://kimbakersphotography.smugmug.com/Vacation/7th-day-Nassau-Bahamas/13875573_HwZPDp#1017720776_JvtbJ

Great website with tons of photos and ID (scientific names,etc): www.reefguide.org

 

Website with cool Caribbean reef squid photos and education on mating colors:

www.thecephalopodpage.org/Ssepioidea.php

 

**I have to comment that my husband thinks I just completed your Marine Biology homework :-) But I think you are a true fishy enthusiast like I am :-)

Thanks for the link. I'm off to look at them. :D

And tell your husband not to worry, I'm in nursing school....we haven't got to the part that you need to know marine biology yet...just microbiology<---which I just completed last quarter and it completely exhausted me. :p

Wow - great pictures! I just went looking for my fish id cards, and I couldn't find them. But DHappyCruiser seemed to get practically everything. Keep in mind that babies, teenagers, and adult fish often have different colorings.

#38 French Angel Fish is my favorite, but he Queen Angelfish is a close second.

#39 - I love Flamingo Tongues. The spotted bit is a thin layer that comes out from the inside part, and can withdraw when it wants. Did you see any Christmas Tree worms? They are amazing.

#8 - Pufferfish. Did you see him puffed up like a basketball?

Wow - great pictures! I just went looking for my fish id cards, and I couldn't find them. But DHappyCruiser seemed to get practically everything. Keep in mind that babies, teenagers, and adult fish often have different colorings.

 

#38 French Angel Fish is my favorite, but he Queen Angelfish is a close second.

 

I know what you mean. They were so pretty. It was the first time I've seen either one while snorkeling. It was funny that my husband took off with the camera to go out deep (at Cozumel) to take pictures of the statues out there while me and the little one snorkeled up closer. I spotted the French Angelfish and was so bummed that I didn't have the camera. I looked up to find exactly where I was at when I seen her. We snorkeled back to the steps (quite a ways down) and got out of the water and I had to take her to the bathroom. When he came in, I hurried and grabbed the camera and told him I was going to hunt for this beautiful fish I had just seen. I could not believe she was still there in the same spot swimming around. :D I think I got lucky.

#39 - I love Flamingo Tongues. The spotted bit is a thin layer that comes out from the inside part, and can withdraw when it wants. Did you see any Christmas Tree worms? They are amazing.

 

Yea, I was reading up about them online. (Flamingo Tongues). I thought that was interesting.

 

Nope, I have yet to see any Christmas Tree worms. Do you usually find them snorkeling? Or are they usually farther out?

#8 - Pufferfish. Did you see him puffed up like a basketball?

Nope, didn't see him puffed and glad I didn't hehe (which would mean we pissed him off) :eek:

Great pictures, thanks for sharing the photos and thanks for the info you provided DHappyCruiser.

What kind of camera do you have? It takes very nice clear pictures.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing the photos and thanks for the info you provided DHappyCruiser.

What kind of camera do you have? It takes very nice clear pictures.

I have a Canon D10 that is awesome. It does great underwater, above water, night (fireworks) pictures and even has video. After getting it 2 years ago, we have only been taking it on vacation now and leaving the dslr at home. :p

Thanks for the links to some great websites. I have a Hawaiian reef fish book but always wonder exactly what I'm seeing when I'm in the Caribbean.

mitsugirly - great pics!

Anyone care play guess this fish?

There were hardly any fish when I snorkeled at Chankanaab in Cozumel in Dec. But walking along the seawall I spotted this guy. I only noticed him being red..when I got home and looked at the pictures on the computer before I noticed how unusual he was...

I'm going with calling him an 'Incredible Mr Limpet' fish ;)

 

I'm going with calling him an 'Incredible Mr Limpet' fish ;)

Oh my gosh...you hit the name exactly. He so looks like Mr Limpet. Wow, that's funny. Look at those lips. :eek: :D

I thought # 14 (oh it was 13)was a sheepshead. Do I know fish? NO, but I have caught a bunch that looked just like that.

Great pictures.!

I thought # 14 (oh it was 13)was a sheepshead. Do I know fish? NO, but I have caught a bunch that looked just like that.

 

Great pictures.!

I don't think it's a sheepshead after looking at pictures of them on google pics. Definitely a butterflyfish :)

Ok guys, I have a couple more for you to identify for me:

What is this fish?

What is this big guy with the yellow tail below?

This one looks alittle like the one above, but darker:

Has anyone figured out what the little black and yellow striped fish are?

This looks like some of the lighter colored surgeons. Are there black ones too?

One last one...

At first I thought this was a blue tang, but then noticed he had a bit of a yellow on the tip of his tail and there were faint darker blue/black stripes on his body:

What a fun game! I can not claim to be an expert but my husband and I are SCUBA divers and we've seen a lot of the same creatures. Your photos are great - some of them look like they could be from SCUBA photographers!

 

Here are my "best guesses" and I'll put a couple of websites that are great resources at the bottom.

 

1 Palometa

2 Yellowtail Damselfish

3 Rainbow Wrasse

4 Blackbar Soldierfish (in the squirrelfish family)

5 It is a Damselfish but can't see the markings well enough to know what type

6 Azure Damselfish is a good guess - too far a way to know for sure

7 Bluestriped Lizardfish

8 Checkered Puffer

9 Could be a young wrasse of some sort - but can't see him well enough

10 Yellowtail Parrotfish (initial phase (young))

11 Ocean Surgeonfish (on left) & Blue Tang (on right)

12 Yellowtail Snapper

13 Banded Butterflyfish

14 I think 14 is skipped on your list

15 Stoplight Parrotfish (terminal phase (final colors))

16 Ballyhoo! (great name)

17 Trumpetfish

18 Foureye Butterflyfish (we see them in pairs a lot)

19 Pluma Porgy

20 Honeycomb Cowfish

21 Sergeant Majors with Blue Tangs and I'm stumped on the one with the orange

22 Front of him looks like a Trumpetfish - but without the back end? Not sure if it is the photo angle playing tricks?

23 Queen Angelfish

24 Caribbean Reef Squid

25 Trumpetfish

26 Bluestriped Grunt - hard to see the colors for sure though

27 My guess is beginnings of a sponge or coral - but husband thinks it is a polyp stage jellyfish?

28 Yellow Stingray

29 Not positive but might be a Schoolmaster Snapper - stripes only show from above

30 Seems like a parrotfish but hard to tell what colors are in the photo

31 Juvenile Blue Tang (they are yellow as babies)

32 French Grunt

33 Yellowtail Damselfish (your photo shows great colors!)

34 bigger fish is Bluestriped grunt - not sure what black and yellow is?

35 Juvenile Beaugregory

36 Bermuda Chub

37 Blue Tang

38 French Angelfish

39 Flamingo Tongue Snail

40 Juvenile Smooth Trunkfish (trunkfish are the cutest fish (imho))

 

Great website with tons of photos and ID (scientific names,etc): www.reefguide.org

 

Website with cool Caribbean reef squid photos and education on mating colors:

www.thecephalopodpage.org/Ssepioidea.php

 

**I have to comment that my husband thinks I just completed your Marine Biology homework :-) But I think you are a true fishy enthusiast like I am :-)

WOW, you rock! #40 is my favorite too......I saw one even younger on a snorkel trip in St Maarten.........it was so small you couldn't see the fins or eyes, it was a floating black nub with yellow spots that was evading me, drove me nuts trying to figure out what it was! I would have gotten a picture of it but while trying to hold myself under water by pushing myself with a thumb on the coral, I urchin-spined myself :eek:

Did you see any Christmas Tree worms? They are amazing.

I guess I'm getting to be a more confident diver, I am seeing a lot more these days. On my last cruise, I saw several types of worms, but since I suck as a photographer (and they disappear like they were never there when you get close) I couldn't get any photos. My new favorites!

Where did all of my "fish-naming experts" go to? I need more fish names for my new experiences. :D