No, the fish I saw had clearly delineated horizontal bands.  Size was
approximately one foot (0.3 m).


----- Original Message -----
From: "Reef Fish" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 10:42
Subject: Re: [SCUBA-SE] Fish ID


> On Fri, 29 Mar 2002 09:50:35 -0600, Steven Catron <stepan-
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >What sort of fish in South Florida water has black and white horizontal
> >bands along the lower 3/4s of its body, with more colorful (blue and/or
> >yellow comes to mind) bands on the top 1/4?   I saw one of those off
> >Boynton Beach, but had forgotten it until now.
>
> The verbal description could fit many fishes.  It sounded almost like
the
> "Giant Hawkfish" that came up in recent thread elsewhere.
>
> Steve Kramer <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
> news:<[log in to unmask]>...
> >
> > I enlarged and enhanced it with PhotoShop, and it appears to be a
> > juvinile ov the Balistidae (trigger fish) family. The urchin growing
out
> > of its forehead doesn't help...
>
> Is it anything like these?
>
> http://www.graphic.com.br/reef/rivulatus.htm
>
> http://bajadestinations.com/fishid/hawkfishclown/clownhawkfish.htm
>
> Those pages were provided by one Forest Aten.  After seeing that,
> I wrote in response to Kramer,
>
> RF>That was my first impression, that it was me (Nassau Grouper) with a
> RF>triggerfish face, when I read Dan's report with that pic.
>
> Now it appears I was EXACTLY right.  In Spanish, it's "Chino Mero",
> a "Chinese Grouper".  Of course.  :-))
>
> In the webpage description, it translated "Chino Mero" as a
> "Chinese Jewfish" which is no longer a politically correct name to
> use for any Jewfish
> .  :-)
>
> In any event "Mero" is a "grouper" since I know Pasqual's boat
> and nickname are both "Mero Gordo" meaning the "Fat Grouper".
>
> So, Steve, was it or wasn't it ME?   -:-)
>
> -- Bob.
>