Jawfish ID help - Mustache Jawfish
Posted August 26th, 2011 by Carol202
Images:
I thought this might be a dusky jawfish, but the DVD says the dusky doesn't pile rubble around its hole.
The location is in the northern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida in 90 feet of water. This jawfish appeared much larger than yellowheaded jawfish I have seen in the Caribbean (just saying as a way of trying to define the size when I can't see the body). Any help would be much appreciated.
Carol
Hi Carol. How much color
Hi Carol. How much color correction has gone into these photos? Could those lips be blue instead of green? The orange stripe to the side of the face could correspond to a Moustache Jawfish (Opistognathus lonchurus).
Cheers,
Itziar Aretxaga, Puebla, Mexico.
Definitely a mustache jawfish
Hi Carol, Without question your picture is of the Moustache Jawfish. Its lips are indeed much greener than usual, but it is not uncommon for the lips to be bluegreen, so this amount of variation is not impossible. However, the real key to identification is the dark spot below the lower rear corner of the eye and below that the very thin orangish strip on the lower head, as clearly seen in your 2nd picture. Best "fishes," Paul Humann
Moustache Jawfish
Thanks Paul and Itziar.
Sorry I didn't get back to your kind responses sooner but I've been away for a while. I see the orange stripe on the cheek and I fully agree with the moustache. The location is also correct since the northeast Gulf of Mexico is listed as a possible site for these fish. Just to let you know, I looked back at my originals and the photos were not color corrected; the fish lips are kind of a blue-green color.
Carol