Mystery Fish ID?

[treylane]

Ok, I know these are like bigfoot photos... saw this guy at an LFS in LA, beauuuutiful fish ... roughly 8" long, 2" wide and 2" tall, upturned mouth, eyes on the side of his head, screeeamin neon orange and blue stripes. Realllly looked like a giant saltwater killifish.

 

[bookfish]

Mutant A. australe? J/k of course

 

[GreshamH]

What LFS? I'm friends with many of those LA guys and can ask. I can't tell from the pics or the description.

 

[treylane]

Tong's, though they didn't have an ID on it. They were just calling it a "snapper" for lack of any other name. Gorgeous fish. No sucker on his head like a remora.

 

[GreshamH]

Look like this?

rainfordia opercularis (from Australia)

I was thinking some type of deepwater fish, maybe a relative to a Liopropoma or the Belonoperca

 

[treylane]

I'm gonna go with a Probably on that one.... I was preeeetty sure he only had one dorsal fin, but could be wrong on that.

 

[GreshamH]

Oh I'm not done just yet The more I show and the more you comment, we'll get this nailed down.

 

[treylane]

Ha, cool. Maybe I'll get bored enough to head back up with a real cam tomorrow night.

 

[seminolecpa]

Can't we give it some cool designer name like coral and be done with it? How bout the {insert cheesy superhero name here} fish?

 

[seminolecpa]

Wierd when I did < with the name inside, it hid in my post.

 

[GreshamH]

Wierd when I did < with the name inside, it hid in my post.

no weird at all... you just used CODE

 

[GreshamH]

Can't we give it some cool designer name like coral and be done with it? How bout the {insert cheesy superhero name here} fish?

No thank you. With the amount of fish in the ocean and so many that look like each other LATIN is best. Same with corals

Let me guess, each of your fish, shrimp, snails, etc all have pet names? :lol:

 

[seminolecpa]

Only one fish and its name more suits what it is to me PITA (a maroon clown). Thought about naming it Tony instead

 

[GreshamH]

Thank god it wasn't Gresham

 

[Matt_Wandell]

Look like this?

rainfordia opercularis (from Australia)

I was thinking some type of deepwater fish, maybe a relative to a Liopropoma or the Belonoperca

Wow, just wow. That's exactly what it is, and I don't think one has ever appeared in the US before, at least never that I've heard of. This is one of those "only in books" fish.

What store, how much were they asking?

 

[Gomer]

Can't we give it some cool designer name like coral and be done with it? How bout the {insert cheesy superhero name here} fish?

No thank you. With the amount of fish in the ocean and so many that look like each other LATIN is best. Same with corals

how about we compromise and call it an AAA Ultragrade LE {Latin Name}

 

[GreshamH]

Look like this?

rainfordia opercularis (from Australia)

I was thinking some type of deepwater fish, maybe a relative to a Liopropoma or the Belonoperca

Wow, just wow. That's exactly what it is, and I don't think one has ever appeared in the US before, at least never that I've heard of. This is one of those "only in books" fish.

What store, how much were they asking?

really?

Thanks for chiming in, I was going to send you a PM to look at this post

 

[treylane]

Tong's Tropical Fish in fountain valley, I didn't ask about a price or see one scribbled on the side of the tank. I've sortof committed to try purchasing him for a friend tomorrow evening though.

The story the employee gave me (take it for what it's worth, I don't know this guy) is that they think he's been in the store at least 5yrs, they found just him swimming around in a live rock bin under their display cubes recently.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

really?

Thanks for chiming in, I was going to send you a PM to look at this post

Really, there is no other fish it could be. L. swalesi is the only thing even close but the tail color and body shape obviously rule that out.

 

[GreshamH]

NOt to mention size. ~8" long :0