What is it?

[Daintreeboy]

We catch a few of these fish up this way out on the reef, mostly at night. They appear to be a Lutjanid of some sort, a cross between a Mangrove Jack, Large Mouth Nannygai and perhaps Red Emperor. The larger ones we've caught have a small hump on the head and we've got them to over 3 kilo so a nice fish and good eating like all Lutjanids. Apologies for the poor quality of the photo.

[flathead_fred]

hi,
if it has nostrels on its nape it will probably be a juvenile red bass i would think. just a thought ???

see ya

[Daintreeboy]

It is definitely not a Red Bass, we catch heaps of them and they are vastly different from this fish. Colourwise, it most closely resembles that of a Moses Perch, without the Fingermark near the tail. The underside area is a bit darker than the Moses Perch too. I am yet to find them in any Fish Guide and others in this area are in the same boat.

[flathead_fred]

hi, yeah your right its not. youve got me stuffed, im thinking there are numerous varieties of sea perch (like hussar and blue stripe perch, moses perch ect) you might just have one of them. dont know....sorry.
see ya

[clutter]

Could be a Saddle-Tailed Sea Perch. They are caught up on the northern off shore reefs. The younger fish have a dark spot on top in front of the tail that turns greyish as they get older. They are often caught with scarlet sea perch and are pretty good eating. Grow to over 10kg.

Did say "could be", check it out and see what you think.

Cheers, Clutter.

[BeastMaster]

BeastMaster recons it looks like a dead hussar.Ive only ever heard of them growing to about a foot and a 1/2 long.

[mackmauler]

Looked like the paddle tail to me, considered a risk of ciguatera poisoning in QLD.

Heres a pic. ignore the yellow line patterns, a scanning modification.

Cheers

[kc]

We get these occassionally in the Whitsundays as well. They are not paddletails. Look like a big moses perch but without the spot and a fairly uniform coppery red colour.
???

KC

[Daintreeboy]

KC is right. I've done a fair bit of fishing and caught all the Lutjanids mentioned above and it is definitely not one of those. I've yet to see it described in any fish guides.

[dencor11]

Could it be one of those, Red Big Eye
ive seen them grow pretty big, not huge but it does look like one of them....

[dencor11]

Red Big Eye
Priacanthus Macracanthus
I just found the scientific name for the Red Big eye maybe someone could look it up and see if it is that fish, It sure does look like it here in the book im looking at.

[SHANE]

Priacanthus Macracanthus

[Lucky_Phill]

I'll go an XOS Hussar.

I have caught them to 1.2kg out at the Bunker Group of Islands, and they tend to loose their stripe at that size.

??? ;D

[addicted]

some inside info tells me that it is a red throat snapper...

[eli]

five years ago a research company tried to run a project where they tagged and released mangrove jacks into reefs. mangrove fack tend not to get much sunlight so my guess is that over the years the offspring has been exposed to more sunlight thus the light colour, they probably feed at night because they like to hit their prey hard and is easier to sneak up on prey. just a guess from eli.

[Daintreeboy]

Nope it's definitely not any of the suggestions put forward so far. KC mentioned the closest thing to an ID, but is in the same boat as me. Up this way we generally call them Bastard Emperor as at this stage there has been no official identification. Luckily we caught another small one just last week so I'll post some hopefully clearer photos when they're exposed.

[scottem]

daintreeboy it might be a lighter shade maroon perch i have caught the same thing and maroon perch out at tongue reef from port douglas they look close enough.
scotty

[Daintreeboy]

We might be onto something here. What is a Maroon Perch?

[scottem]

i dont konw if they are in the fish books might be in some.used to catch them in WA as well as port i have seen a few but as you said your photo was not all that clear.same family as hussars and moses perch,good to eat.was it a darker colour when you brought it up?
scotty

[Mugil]

Gday guys
a mate caught this (about a kilo and a half) at Smith Rock SE Qld, it's not a jack or red bass.
We eventually called it a 'dark-tailed seaperch' Lutjanus lemniscatus
It's in 'Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South East Asia' by Gerry Allen which is one of the better fish id books I've found.
I'm still not completely convinced. It does look a lot like daintreeboys.
Cheers
Geoff

[mackmauler]

Geoff, that fish looks just like a small red bass, a lighter colour than a shallow water one though, you say its not a bass though, what was the features that differ from a bass.

Rob

[Jack_Lives_Here]

Yeh would go with Rob on that one. The creases in front of the eyes sway it as a red bass in my way of thinking.

[craigie]

Yes I would agree with both Rob and Dave that Geoff's mate has caught a small Red Bass. According to Ern Grant, Red Bass are caught as far South as Cape Moreton. Compare Geoff's pic with this one of a Red Bass and you should see a lot of similarities.
I'm still not sure what Daintreeboy's fish is ??? Maybe the next photo will reveal a bit more ???

Cheers
Craig.

[Mugil]

It does look like a red bass, which is why I mentioned that it isn't.
It was caught a couple of years ago so I can't recall too many specifics which differentiate it from bass, however the longitudinal striping was not distinct as in bass, no pale patch below the second dorsal seen on many bass, the head profile is longer and slightly concave like a jack and unlike a bass.
The flash and angle of the pic unfortunately make the nasal groove appear more distinct like a bass, also it makes it difficult to see the faint gold reticulated lines that covered it's gill plate like you see on rosy jobs, maori seaperch and some other lutjanids but not on bass.
I have caught a lot of jacks and bass in different areas and depths and this caught my eye as being different from both, in fact my first call was a hybrid of the two, which is probably impossible naturally. I have seen the same fish in fish markets since, which would also probably preclude it being a red bass given their ciguatera status.
Cheers
Geoff

[craigie]

Hi Goeff,

Any luck with a positive ID ???

Did a Fishing/Tourist trip to FIJI a few years back.
While I was there I went and had a look around the seafood market in Nadi (up north on the main Island).
Well shock :o horror :o, they were selling whole Red Bass for human consumption.
Needless to say,I Chose the Chicken from then on ;D.

Cheers
Craig.

[Lucky_Phill]

Upon further investigation.....I've had a re-think and I'm going with


Lutjanus gibbus ( commonly called Red Snapper ) anal fin, jaw markings and lateral line are the give away's.

Anyway, how did it taste ?

;D ;) 8) ??? ::)

[T-roy]

reef fish or somethin

[Gummtree]

At a guess, I would say it is a Humpback Snapper (Lutjanus Gibbus), cross between a red emp, jack and moses, grows to 50cm or there abouts, found in reef waters to 30-40 meters in depth.

Gummtree