wierd grouper
 

Anybody know what this is? We took him out of 40 ft of water 30 miles south of Bimini, out of a small ledge that definitely wasn't his home. You could tell he felt very "out of place" Spots were much brighter when he was in the water.

Never seen one of these in the flesh, but I have a vague memory of seeing a pic of a deep water grouper that looked similar.

Any ideas?

opps, see pic in next post.

pic

He's shaped a lot like a Triple Tail, but I've never seen one with that coloration.

I think it's a marbled grouper.

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/pgallery...bitats_16.html

Stumped.

good call fossilman;)

Definitely looks like something in the tripletail family to me.

Looks like a Clipperton grouper, but I thought they were only on West Coast. Stumped too. Hybrid?

Juenlie tripletail?
Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790)

Diagnosis: body compressed, height about 2 in SL. Profile of head concave; upper jaw very protractile; lips thick; head 3 in SL; narrow bands of villiform teeth on jaws, outer row enlarged and conical. Preoperculum strongly serrate (juveniles) or finely serrate (adults). Dorsal finrays XI-XII + 14-16; anal finrays III + 11. Soft part of dorsal and anal fins protruding; caudal fin rounded. Gillrakers 5 + 13-15 (all lanceolate). Lateral line scales to caudal base 37-45; 10 scales on caudal fin. Colour: blackish-grey on the back, silvery on the sides and below; juveniles yellow with dark irregular blotches on body. Size: to 1 m SL.

Habitat: in littoral zone of all warm seas. Food: carnivorous. Reproduction

Marbled grouper it is, thanks Fossilman. He was really out of place, more usual around 500 ft. The pic does look a lot like a relative of the tripletail, but, in the flesh it was pretty different.

Thanks again all.