ID unknown type of oyster fish?

Found curled up inside an oyster shell, underneath the rigolets bridge right outside of slidell, LA

Dont have a clue what it is, nor does anyone i know
water that is was caught in was about 1.010 i believe but it has been in full marine conditions and doing good for 3 weeks



Any help much appreciated

Does it happen to have a blue spot on the front of the dorsal fin ? Start checking types of blennies.

Edited by wvairman, 08 July 2009 - 07:33 AM.

Not a blenny.
Don't know what it is, but when you figure it out, I'll bet it's a juvenile of a large predator which looks nothing like the adult.
The juveniles of many marine species are distinctly different from adults. Many if not most field guides fail to show juvie pics making ID frustrating with small fish.

Not a blenny.
Don't know what it is, but when you figure it out, I'll bet it's a juvenile of a large predator which looks nothing like the adult.
The juveniles of many marine species are distinctly different from adults. Many if not most field guides fail to show juvie pics making ID frustrating with small fish.

You really don't think so? True, most salwater juvs don't resemble adults like wrasses for example. One thing he has to help him ID it is that it enters brackish water, of course many do though.

Edited by wvairman, 08 July 2009 - 08:12 AM.

If you could post a picture of the rear of the fish, especially the caudal, it would help a lot. It might be a juv seabass of some type I suppose?

it does indeed have a blue spot near the front of its fin, and i will try to get a picture of its back

started looking around and its really starting to look like a type of blenny, havent found which one yet, but the body shapes and color patterns are matching up quite nicely

Edited by AnThOnY, 08 July 2009 - 03:41 PM.

Hey Anthony, I did a little research and your fish looks exactly like a striped blenny (chasmodes bosquianus). They live in full saltwater in bays and I dont see why they couldnt enter brackish here and there. i am 90% sure this is what you got.

Hey Anthony, I did a little research and your fish looks exactly like a striped blenny (chasmodes bosquianus). They live in full saltwater in bays and I dont see why they couldnt enter brackish here and there. i am 90% sure this is what you got.

Striped blenny was my first guess, thats why I asked if it had the blue spot on the dorsal. The blue spot means it's a male. Good work Amazon.

Edited by wvairman, 08 July 2009 - 08:21 PM.

Thanks wvairman! Thats a very neat fish, im getting my 20g set up for a brackish tank so my poor brackish fish in the 10g can get a bigger home. Maybe sometime we can do some local brackish water collecting Anthony. Oh yeah how are those hogsuckers doing? The one I got from the tangi is doing pretty good, hes still acclimating to my tank. It takes a little while for those guys to acclimate.

Thanks wvairman! Thats a very neat fish, im getting my 20g set up for a brackish tank so my poor brackish fish in the 10g can get a bigger home. Maybe sometime we can do some local brackish water collecting Anthony. Oh yeah how are those hogsuckers doing? The one I got from the tangi is doing pretty good, hes still acclimating to my tank. It takes a little while for those guys to acclimate.

I love blennies and gobies. I go to jetties to catch them but jetties can be dangerous because sharks chase and corner fish there.

Thanks for the help everyone, been puzzling me for a while
and if the blue spot means its a male, does the female look different? because i actually just caught another one today that also had the blue spot

Yea we should do that sometime amazon

i love gobies too, definately one of my favorites, for whatever reason i really like my sleeper gobies

Thanks for the help everyone, been puzzling me for a while
and if the blue spot means its a male, does the female look different? because i actually just caught another one today that also had the blue spot

Yea we should do that sometime amazon

i love gobies too, definately one of my favorites, for whatever reason i really like my sleeper gobies

Females are less colorful and have some dull blotches. In my area they are common along with the Feather blenny, Hairy blenny, and the Molly Miller. There are also cling fishes and different gobies as well. Beware of Hairy blennies because they grow large and bully the others. I have read that blennies are one of the most intelligent fishes in the ocean. I love gobies and jawfish as well. They add character to a saltwater tank imo. I had a baby Toadfish with some but as it grows you need to put it in another tank.

Edited by wvairman, 09 July 2009 - 12:20 AM.

doesn't look like a blenny. hard to tell without a side shot but check out juvenile tripletail.

It is a blenny after all!
It was the huge looking mouth that fooled me. I pictured all blennies with small little sub terminal mouths.
Cool fish! I'd like to get one of those.

It is a blenny after all!
It was the huge looking mouth that fooled me. I pictured all blennies with small little sub terminal mouths.
Cool fish! I'd like to get one of those.

Most types of blennies don't have mouths like that. The top picture I thought Striped blenny for sure, the bottom picture a little doubt crept in until he described the dorsal.

Edited by wvairman, 09 July 2009 - 04:41 PM.

I like him, he is definately an interesting little guy, hes the only kind of blenny i have caught down here though, just them, skillet fish and naked gobies

You caught him at the Rigolets? If you start catching a lot please tell me cause I really want to get one now. Were you in a boat or wading?
Thanks in advance

I like him, he is definately an interesting little guy, hes the only kind of blenny i have caught down here though, just them, skillet fish and naked gobies

I like clingfish, (skillet fish), as well as the gobies and blennies. Some clingfish really go after small ghost shrimp. Amazon, that's another fish you could add to your goby and blenny tank. Pistol shrimp are interesting, do you have those along your shore line? Not to be confused with Mantis shrimp btw.

You caught him at the Rigolets? If you start catching a lot please tell me cause I really want to get one now. Were you in a boat or wading?
Thanks in advance

If you want to catch blennies a good place to start is around boat docks and fishing piers. Don't look for them, just scoop while trapping them against a pillar and you may get 5 or 6 per scoop. Wading is best but dont go in water that's too deep because it makes them too hard to catch. I love low tide, keep track of the tide charts for where you're going. Big nets with small holes, beware of oyster shells on the rocks and pilings because they will cut the heck out of your net. One last recommendation is get a floating minnow bucket that has small holes and a spring shut lid, take some small rope and loop it to your wrist, you don't have to worry about tide coming in, birds or people messing with your fish. The best part is you don't waste time going back and forth after every catch

Edited by wvairman, 11 July 2009 - 04:39 AM.

I have a floating minnow bucket with the holes and the spring lid already,
Heres my gear
25' by 4' seine
2 dip nets
cast net
2 wire minnow traps
tons of buckets
2 of those floating minnow buckets with the holes and the spring lid

I visit Lake Pontchartrain pretty frequently, ive caught naked gobys, but I havent caught any other gobys or blennies.
In Alabama I caught clown gobys in Shelby Lake. They didnt do real well though.
Thanks for the help,
James