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 Lost / Southern Potato Cod?  |
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Bunyip
Dive-Oz Supporter
Adelaide, SA
Australia
2214 Posts |
 Posted - 01 February 2005 : 12:42:09 AM
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Hi all
I saw something that looked a lot like a potato cod following my buddy, as if it was a blue throated wrasse, out in the open, accompanied by blue throated wrasse females/juveniles.
It was oval in profile like the potato cod and a similar grey-cream colour with big brown rings (not spots) on it.
Only one problem. It was off Cape Jaffa on the way to Kingston on the South Australian southern coast. So if it was a potato cod, it was very lost.
It might have been a sea carp, except the head looks all wrong in the books/photos compared to what I saw, it was more groper/cod like - rounded and integrated with the rest of the body. I don't remember it having an indentation behind the eyes either like some of the photos. And it was big, like 70cm plus, which is supposed to be too big for a Sea Carp.
No way was it a dusky morwong - they're too elongated, this was more oval in profile. I have seen dusky morwongs (strongies) in the same area but this wasn't one of them.
Any ideas? What kind of variations in size, head shape and pattern do you get with sea carp aka marble fish? Do they swim up from the bottom and follow divers for a while?
potato cod
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/etukula.htm
Sea carp
(picture in Edgar's "Australian Marine Life plants and fishes of temperate waters"
http://www.woodbridge.tased.edu.au/mdc/Species%20Register/marble_fish.htm
http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/~adrian/scuba/pix/Nikon/Img0078/Webdscn6302.jpg
Dusky Morwong
http://www.mlssa.asn.au/photos/1133.jpg
-- It's on the internet, it must be true. |
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Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 09:21:01 AM
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Picture?
If it is a Cod, it will most likely stick around that area...
A big QLD Groper turned up in New Zealand last year, so nothing is impossible. If your fish is a cod or groper, I'm very suprised it survived the previous winter. 
Larval dispersal rules! I love photographing tropical fish in temperate waters!  |
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Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 09:21:01 AM
|
Picture?
If it is a Cod, it will most likely stick around that area...
A big QLD Groper turned up in New Zealand last year, so nothing is impossible. If your fish is a cod or groper, I'm very suprised it survived the previous winter.
Larval dispersal rules! I love photographing tropical fish in temperate waters! |
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Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 09:21:01 AM
|
Picture?
If it is a Cod, it will most likely stick around that area...
A big QLD Groper turned up in New Zealand last year, so nothing is impossible. If your fish is a cod or groper, I'm very suprised it survived the previous winter.
Larval dispersal rules! I love photographing tropical fish in temperate waters! |
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Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 09:21:01 AM
|
Picture?
If it is a Cod, it will most likely stick around that area...
A big QLD Groper turned up in New Zealand last year, so nothing is impossible. If your fish is a cod or groper, I'm very suprised it survived the previous winter.
Larval dispersal rules! I love photographing tropical fish in temperate waters! |
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Dave H
Dive-Oz Supporter
Nelson Bay
Australia
1840 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:38:52 PM
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there's a 6 foot Qld groper at Little Beach in Nelson Bay at the moment.... been around since xmas and is in 10 metres of water. Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo. 
There is one way that can be fixed! 
"www.daveharasti.com" |
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Dave H
Dive-Oz Supporter
Nelson Bay
Australia
1840 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:38:52 PM
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there's a 6 foot Qld groper at Little Beach in Nelson Bay at the moment.... been around since xmas and is in 10 metres of water. Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
"www.daveharasti.com" |
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Dave H
Dive-Oz Supporter
Nelson Bay
Australia
1840 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:38:52 PM
|
there's a 6 foot Qld groper at Little Beach in Nelson Bay at the moment.... been around since xmas and is in 10 metres of water. Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
"www.daveharasti.com" |
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Dave H
Dive-Oz Supporter
Nelson Bay
Australia
1840 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:38:52 PM
|
there's a 6 foot Qld groper at Little Beach in Nelson Bay at the moment.... been around since xmas and is in 10 metres of water. Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
"www.daveharasti.com" |
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Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:53:19 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave H
Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
You want me to come up and take the picture for you? |
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Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:53:19 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave H
Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
You want me to come up and take the picture for you? |
|
|
Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:53:19 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave H
Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
You want me to come up and take the picture for you? |
|
|
Shadowkiller
1200+ Posts
Wollongong
Australia
1277 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 1:53:19 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave H
Stupid fish doesn't like bubbles so won't come close enough for a photo.
There is one way that can be fixed!
You want me to come up and take the picture for you? |
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Bunyip
Dive-Oz Supporter
Adelaide, SA
Australia
2214 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 5:25:30 PM
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I don't have a picture. I'm not sure if my boat buddies would part with the marks to go look again - it was very distinctive territory though, lots of big boulder like rocks and ledges and overhangs. One bit looked like an oversized upright piano.
And I think the fish was territorial, it didn't stay with us for long before going back the way it came. But it came with us a lot further than the scaly fin will.
I have seen baby (green coloured) western blue groper in that same area, but no big blue ones.
-- It's on the internet, it must be true. |
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Bunyip
Dive-Oz Supporter
Adelaide, SA
Australia
2214 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 5:25:30 PM
|
I don't have a picture. I'm not sure if my boat buddies would part with the marks to go look again - it was very distinctive territory though, lots of big boulder like rocks and ledges and overhangs. One bit looked like an oversized upright piano.
And I think the fish was territorial, it didn't stay with us for long before going back the way it came. But it came with us a lot further than the scaly fin will.
I have seen baby (green coloured) western blue groper in that same area, but no big blue ones.
-- It's on the internet, it must be true. |
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|
Bunyip
Dive-Oz Supporter
Adelaide, SA
Australia
2214 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 5:25:30 PM
|
I don't have a picture. I'm not sure if my boat buddies would part with the marks to go look again - it was very distinctive territory though, lots of big boulder like rocks and ledges and overhangs. One bit looked like an oversized upright piano.
And I think the fish was territorial, it didn't stay with us for long before going back the way it came. But it came with us a lot further than the scaly fin will.
I have seen baby (green coloured) western blue groper in that same area, but no big blue ones.
-- It's on the internet, it must be true. |
|
|
Bunyip
Dive-Oz Supporter
Adelaide, SA
Australia
2214 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2005 : 5:25:30 PM
|
I don't have a picture. I'm not sure if my boat buddies would part with the marks to go look again - it was very distinctive territory though, lots of big boulder like rocks and ledges and overhangs. One bit looked like an oversized upright piano.
And I think the fish was territorial, it didn't stay with us for long before going back the way it came. But it came with us a lot further than the scaly fin will.
I have seen baby (green coloured) western blue groper in that same area, but no big blue ones.
-- It's on the internet, it must be true. |
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Lost / Southern Potato Cod? |
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