Identify this

[Ken Hawk]

I was thinking we all have pics that we can't identify, so who better to ask than the good folk at UWC ;)

So heres one from me, not the best pic in the world but what is it?

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/Fish.jpg

Thanks Ken

[Jonathan Bird]

I'm guessing it's a fish! :D

It will be easier to identify if you post where you shot it. Looks like one of those soapfish from the Caribbean.

Jonathan

[Ken Hawk]

I'm guess it's a fish! :D

It will be easier to identify if you post where you shot it. Looks like one of those soapfish from the Caribbean.

Jonathan

LOL :p
Shot in Bonaire
Ken

[David White]

I agree Jonathan, it is a soapfish.

[sorvju-f]

I agree Jonathan, it is a soapfish.

I think I have seen also these...they are often lying somewhere on their other side trying too look dead!

Jukka

[Daniel]

I think I have seen also these...they are often lying somewhere on their other side trying too look dead!

Jukka

Very true Jukka, that is typically how Soapfish appear (lying on their side). They have an unconcerned look about them and their signature upturned mouth.

Details: http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/R/Rypticus_saponaceus.asp

Btw... nice shot Ken.

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[Jonathan Bird]

So why do they call them soapfish? Are they very clean? Or really slippery?

[Papa Bear]

Because they have that dead turn to soap look. If you see them lying on their side after a long time they have a look like a bar of soap gets in the holder after a longtime. Like a human body does in water after long exposer. Human tallow look!

[Daniel]

So why do they call them soapfish? Are they very clean? Or really slippery?

They secrete a soap-like toxic mucus... so I've read. :D

[Papa Bear]

You are right as i stated they look like old soap in dish! If one has been sitting a longtime it is very thick!

[solisti]

Ok, so the first was quite easy. How about this one..

Oh, almost forgot; shot in a lake in southern Finland

[Sharp]

Ok, so the first was quite easy. How about this one..

Oh, almost forgot; shot in a lake in southern Finland

That´s difficult one.:eek: I can see only bottom of the lake?:confused:

[Daniel]

A platichthys flesus (freshwater flounder)? Just a wild guess :confused:

I have no idea!

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[David White]

Can't be the Black Hole of Calcutta...that would be further south.

[solisti]

So no help from you guys... :rolleyes:

Whatever fish it originally was it was in very small pieces now... Crabs leftovers?

[Ken Hawk]

So no help from you guys... :rolleyes:

Whatever fish it originally was it was in very small pieces now... Crabs leftovers?

I think we need another pic :confused:

Ken

[sorvju-f]

A platichthys flesus (freshwater flounder)? Just a wild guess :confused:

I have no idea!

Cheers!
Daniel :)


Daniel, I think you have the closest answer..anyhow it was a fish:rolleyes:

Jukka

[McCloud]

This creature was sitting in a hole. When we aproached it disappeared in to the hole. When we put som light in the hole it looked very deep. No one would put an arm down to check the hole.
Pic taken on a night dive in the red sea, shallow water 2-3 meters.
Even our dive-guide did not know what we had seen.

[Jonathan Bird]

That's a mantis shrimp, but I don't know which species.

[McCloud]

Thank you.
Do U have a picture where the whole shrimp is visible?

[tarczy]

Thank you.
Do U have a picture where the whole shrimp is visible?

There are around 400 species of mantis shrimp that have currently been described worldwide; all living species are in the suborder Unipeltata. Since the shrimp in your picture is mostly buried, it's impossible to determine which species of Mantis Shrimp you actually photographed. ;)

Mantis Shrimps are commonly separated into two distinct groups determined by the manner of claws they possess:

Spearers are armed with spiny appendages topped with barbed tips, used to stab and snag prey and some have a blunt, calcified club on the elbow.

Smashers, on the other hand, possess a much more developed club and a more rudimentary spear (which is nevertheless quite sharp and still used in fights between their own kind); the club is used to bludgeon and smash their meals apart. The inner aspect of the dactyl (the terminal portion of the appendage) can also possess a sharp edge, with which the animal can cut prey while it swims.

Both types strike by rapidly unfolding and swinging their raptorial claws at the prey, and are capable of inflicting serious damage on victims significantly greater in size than themselves.

You can read the whole Wikipedia article here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp).

They're pretty vicious predators. I wouldn't try pissing 'em off. :eek:

[Jonathan Bird]

And based on the fact that the species shown here has oval, rather than round eyes, it is a spearer (I think!)

I'm working from memory but I believe the spearers have oval eyes and the smashers have round eyes.

Jonathan

[McCloud]

Once again thank you Jonathan. I will search the web trying to find out which kind it is. Did not know that there where so many species.

Allan