Jump to content


Photo

Finally caught the dragon - Physalia fields


19 replies to this topic

#1 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:04 PM

As a fish addict I am always looking for my next fix. I usually keep my sickness in check with my samples at work and normal fishing and dipnetting on weekends when I have time. I am always looking for new and different collection opportunities like a junkie chasing the feeling of his first high. To me there isn't anything much more exciting then sampling a new habitat or area with fish I may have never caught before. Its all the more exciting when its a habitat I have passed many times before without a second thought. Last week I happened upon one of those habitats and it was by far the most fun I have had in the field in a long time.

 

Location - Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana between Grand Isle and the Empire jetties between 2 and 7 miles off the beach

 

Habitat - Rip lines full of Portuguese man o' war, By-the-Wind sailors, and other debris

20160316_142847.jpg

 

20160316_142843.jpg



#2 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:11 PM

I have passed these rips many times before, but this trip I decided to see what was home. Our first dips yielded lots of man-of-war fish. 

 

20160316_094104.jpg

 

20160316_145209-1.jpg

 

20160316_093631-1.jpg

 

You could see them, along with tons of gulf butterfish under almost every man-o-war.



#3 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:17 PM

There were also some bigger bulkier fish mixed in with the butters and man-o-war fish.

 

20160316_093919.jpg

 

I'm guessing Hyperoglyphe sp. barrelfish or black driftfish

Interesting note - I kept a few of these guys for an educational collect and when I cut them open to put them in formalin they were stuffed full of man-o-war tentacles. 



#4 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:20 PM

This next one probably surprised me the most. 

 

 

20160316_100456.jpg

 

Lots of juvenile common dolphinfish swimming around between the man-o-war



#5 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:22 PM

No trip to a debris filled rip would be complete without a nice tripletail

 

20160316_100628.jpg



#6 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:28 PM

A couple of yet to be fully identified juveniles

 

20160316_140943-1.jpg

 

some species of jack possibly banded rudderfish or pilotfish

 

20160316_142138.jpg

 

20160316_142143.jpg

 

probable Atlantic flyingfish

 

 



#7 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:39 PM

Caught but not pictured sargassumfish, sargassum pipefish, chain pipefish, gulf butterfish, gulf and maybe a few southern hake, juvenile striped mullet, sargassum swimming crab, various other small crabs and shrimp. I;m sure I forgot something, but that's most of it. My hands have stopped burning. It was worth it.

 

And the craziest thing a aeolid nudibranch called Blue seadragon that eats man-o-war stinging cells and can apparently use them against you

 

 

Glaucus atlanticus

 

20160316_144845.jpg

 

20160316_144848.jpg

 

20160316_144848-1.jpg

 

Pictured with by-the-wind sailor



#8 keepnatives

keepnatives
  • Regional Rep

Posted 23 March 2016 - 05:42 PM

Some really interesting fish. Thanks


Mike Lucas
Mohawk-Hudson Watershed
Schenectady NY

#9 zooxanthellae

zooxanthellae
  • NANFA Member
  • North Carolina

Posted 24 March 2016 - 08:35 AM

Nice pics! I've been looking for man-o-war fish for a long time, with no luck, I'm really jealous! 

 

There were also some bigger bulkier fish mixed in with the butters and man-o-war fish.

 

attachicon.gif20160316_093919.jpg

 

I'm guessing Hyperoglyphe sp. barrelfish or black driftfish

Interesting note - I kept a few of these guys for an educational collect and when I cut them open to put them in formalin they were stuffed full of man-o-war tentacles. 

I agree with  Hyperoglyphe, but the caudal fin isn't right for the black driftfish. Sans some juvenile to adult transformation, they should have a well defined forked caudal. I've done a lot of offshore collecting, and never encountered a juvenile one of these! Pretty neat! 

 

A couple of yet to be fully identified juveniles

 

attachicon.gif20160316_140943-1.jpg

 

some species of jack possibly banded rudderfish or pilotfish

 

attachicon.gif20160316_142138.jpg

 

attachicon.gif20160316_142143.jpg

 

probable Atlantic flyingfish

 

 

Pilot fish lack the first dorsal fin, or it will at least be very reduced. Also, and I could be remembering this incorrectly, I read somewhere that the juvenile banded rudderfish has bands that continue onto the anal fin, where the other juvenile amberjacks do not. The 'confusing quatro' of banded rudder/greater amberjack/lesser amberjack/almaco jack are easily enough separated as adults, but juveniles are no fun! 



#10 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 24 March 2016 - 09:46 AM

Nice pics! I've been looking for man-o-war fish for a long time, with no luck, I'm really jealous! 
 

I agree with  Hyperoglyphe, but the caudal fin isn't right for the black driftfish. Sans some juvenile to adult transformation, they should have a well defined forked caudal. I've done a lot of offshore collecting, and never encountered a juvenile one of these! Pretty neat! 
 

Pilot fish lack the first dorsal fin, or it will at least be very reduced. Also, and I could be remembering this incorrectly, I read somewhere that the juvenile banded rudderfish has bands that continue onto the anal fin, where the other juvenile amberjacks do not. The 'confusing quatro' of banded rudder/greater amberjack/lesser amberjack/almaco jack are easily enough separated as adults, but juveniles are no fun!


I'm gonna look at them a little closer the next I'm stuck in the office. The fun part is finding good juvenile key to some of the rarer stuff. Hoping to find another good rip next week and see what's home.

#11 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 25 March 2016 - 10:54 AM

I didnt realize so many other fishes besides man-o-war fish were associated with man-o-war.  Are these fishes all immune to the stings, or do they have some chemical defense that prevents man-o-war nematocysts from firing? 


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#12 olaf

olaf
  • NANFA Member

Posted 25 March 2016 - 04:42 PM

Wow! Cool stuff.


Redhorse ID downloads and more: http://moxostoma.com

#13 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 25 March 2016 - 06:31 PM

I didnt realize so many other fishes besides man-o-war fish were associated with man-o-war.  Are these fishes all immune to the stings, or do they have some chemical defense that prevents man-o-war nematocysts from firing?


I really didn't expect to see that many species hanging out in direct contact with the tentacles. The man o war fish, Gulf butterfish, and the barrelfish all appeared to be in direct contact with the tentacles. The other species were hanging out close to man o war but not in direct contact. We probably brought 30 or 40 man o war into the boat and the only species of fish we saw dead and tangled in the tentacles were anchovies. I'm guessing the barrelfish were eating fish that the man o war caught. Pretty interesting. I'm hoping to pull a larval net out there next week and see who I can find.

#14 MtFallsTodd

MtFallsTodd
  • NANFA Member
  • Mountain Falls, Virginia

Posted 25 March 2016 - 06:51 PM

Beautiful fish, thanks for sharing.
Deep in the hills of Great North Mountain

#15 Isaac Szabo

Isaac Szabo
  • NANFA Member
  • Marble Falls, AR

Posted 27 March 2016 - 12:07 PM

Really cool and interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing.



#16 MtFallsTodd

MtFallsTodd
  • NANFA Member
  • Mountain Falls, Virginia

Posted 27 March 2016 - 01:54 PM

Are the man-o-war fish obligate tentacle feeders? Really nice looking fish for the aquarium if you could provide the proper diet.
Deep in the hills of Great North Mountain

#17 Irate Mormon

Irate Mormon
  • NANFA Member
  • Crooked Creek, Mississippi

Posted 27 March 2016 - 07:43 PM

Sean - I totally missed this when you posted it.  I'm glad to know you haven't dropped off the face of the earth entirely!!


-The member currently known as Irate Mormon


#18 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 28 March 2016 - 08:31 AM

Sean - I totally missed this when you posted it.  I'm glad to know you haven't dropped off the face of the earth entirely!!


You can always find me on the water somewhere. These days I spend the majority of my time in the salt, but I'm gonna have to make it up to your neck of the woods one day so you can show me what a darter looks like again.

#19 thedood

thedood
  • NANFA Member
  • Illinois

Posted 01 April 2016 - 02:23 PM

Thanks for sharing!  That had to have been a blast of a day.



#20 dredcon

dredcon
  • NANFA Member

Posted 01 April 2016 - 07:10 PM

Thanks for sharing!  That had to have been a blast of a day.


It was a blast. Hopefully we will be back out there next Monday or Tuesday. If we are lucky we can find another good rip, but it's always changing out there so you never know what you will find.



Reply to this topic



  


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users