Fish ID required

[Bubsy]

G'day fellow fishos,

Fish ID required.

I was trolling off the side of the reef up in the Whitsundays when I saw a black blob in the water. I lapped around to take another look at it, and I had never seen it before.

It was about 15-20 large fish, that sort of looked like a black dolphin fish (sort of). It had a sail fish type dorsal fin (sort of) but smaller. Each fish would have been about 2ft long (roughly). I googled the hell out of spawning fish, shoaling fish etc but nothing comes close to what I saw.

Sorry about the poor description, I've attached some terrible photos that hopefully may help.

If you have seen this or know what it is, I would love to find out.

IMG_3649.jpgIMG_3650.jpgIMG_3651.jpg

[odieman150]

Could they have been black trevally ?


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[phantomphisher]

Hmmm. From description (can't see much in the photos), check out lancetfish?

[Bubsy]

Odieman,
Thanks for the post, but definitely not trevally. But yes, they were nice and black like some.

Phantom,
On the right track, they had dorsal fins like the lancetfish, like a small sail (I had to google it). But definitely not the same head as them.

The glimpse that I got of one of them when they took off looked sort of like a dolphin fish head? Apart form the description, has anyone seen fish behave like this before?

[phantomphisher]

Was the dorsal black? First thing that comes to mind when same head as dolphinfish is mentioned is butterfly mackerel, but dorsal is different. Will keep looking.

[phantomphisher]

Maybe cobia?

[scottar]

Have a look through these
http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/family/111

[scottar]

Or these
http://www.fishbase.org/identificati...sortby=species

[Dignity]

They could be Manta rays, seen schools of juveniles at North West Island, only a few feet long and their flaps break the surface like that.

[Jeremy]

I have seen batfish form up in tight schools up near and on the surface around the change of tide. Biggest ones would be close to 2 foot long and they are dark in colour, but that is about where the similarities end.

[Bubsy]

Thanks for the help crew. Still no definitive answer, I guess I'll have to keep searching for them and get a better photo or at least a better look. It may take another ten years but so be it.

[mitc69]

could be pompano dolphinfish normally blackish from water view

[chris69]

How about juvenile amberjack