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Fish Watcher Record |
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Contributor: Alexander "The Sharkman" Buttigieg
| ID: 276 Country: Malta Address: P.O.Box 31, San Gwann. SGN 01 Web page: |
| Update entries Point map FishWatcher records of this species | |||||
| Species: | Stephanolepis diaspros | ||||
| Attachment: | stephandias.jpg | ||||
| URL: | |||||
| Locality:* | Marfa Point. | ||||
| Type: | Sea | ||||
| Salinity:* | marine | ||||
| Water depth: | 25 - 28 m | ||||
| Latitude:* | 35° 59' N Latitude (dec): 35.983333333333 | ||||
| Longitude:* | 14° 19' E Longitude (dec): 14.316666666667 | ||||
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| Country:* | Malta | ||||
| FAO area:* | Mediterranean and Black Sea | ||||
| Temp.: | °C | ||||
| Date:* | 10/10/2001, dd/mm/yyyy | ||||
| Day time: | e.g. 13:00 - 15:00 | ||||
| Length:* | 20 cm Type:* TL | ||||
| Weight: | g | ||||
| Abundance: | scarce (very unlikely) | ||||
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| Remark: | Whilst scuba diving, at Marfa point, I encountered a fish that I had never seen before. Back at the dive base, we talked about this fish and Matthias {one of my bosses} told me that he might have photographed the same fish in 1999. When we saw the photo, we all agreed that it was the same fish.
I then sent out the following email to a friend, who passed it on. Here are the results.
MY FIRST MAIL: For the past week, we have sited a fish that is not common in the area.{Malta.Mediterranean) I have not seen this fish in any local, or Mediterranean fish guide yet. I think that the name of the fish is one of the Filefish species, but to my knowledge, and I may be very wrong here, these are not common in the med. Can someone help me to I.D. this fish please? Is it a Mediterranean species? Shark Powered SHARKMAN -------------------- From: Gerald Jennings [mailto:Gerald@calypsofish.freeserve.co.uk] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 10:09 PM To: R,atanacio@cgiar.org Subject: Fw: Need Help again. Importance: High Aque, Just received this report. As far as I am aware its the first one of its kind reported for the Mediterranean, specifically Malta. Am still trying for positive id Species as yet unidentified.Could you pass to anyone interested? Gerald --------------- Dear Dr Matsuura, May we bother you with another request from one of our collaborator, would you be able to identify this fish? I have attached the picture on a doc file. Is it really uncommon in the Mediterranean Area? (see related email below). Thank you very much for your time and attention. Best regards, Aque ---------------- (this one is Dr Randall's answer) Aque: Looking at a book on E Atlantic and Mediterranean fishes I see two Stephanolepis, one is S. hispidus which is not known from the Mediterranean but is in Madeira so might wander into the Med. The other is S. diaspros that has immigrated to the Med from Red Sea via Suez Canal. Perhaps Keiichi Matsuura can give you a postive identification. Aloha, Jack --------------- Dear Aque, The photographed fish is surely a species of Stephanolepis (a genus of Monacanthidae). Although the photo is a bit out of focus, I think it is probably Stephanolepis diaspros Fraser-Brunner, 1940. Regards, Keiichi ---------------- Dear Gerald, Here is the answer I have received from Dr Matsuura who is the expert on this family, and also I copied here the answer sent by Dr Randall on a separate email, for your information..... Best regards, Aque ---------------- Alex. My second hunch seems to have paid off. By now you will have heard from Fishbase that its a new Red Sea immigrant but I am enclosing details just in case... Gerald. |
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