Promoting Nancy’s photography and educating the public about nature, photography, and God

Name This Fish

We mention on our webpage, Sandhills On A Stroll (and possibly other places), how we learn from our visitors. We also have a 37″ by 68″ canvas print of our Osprey Family image in our booth. At the latest Melbourne Art Festival, a controversy about the fish’s identity in that Osprey image was renewed.

Identify fish in "Osprey Family" image
The fish in our “Osprey Family” image

When she got the image, Nancy knew the fish wasn’t a mullet, a common Osprey meal (only because it’s plentiful and easy), but thought it was a Yellow-tailed Snapper (and may have been a bit envious). The problem with having an image so good (and detailed) is that your story has to be just as good. Shortly after hanging the large canvas version in our booth for the first time, a ‘real fisherman’ (we consider ourselves amateurs) pointed to the faint yellow stripes on the tail and said the fish was not a snapper but a grunt. I remembered that grunts had stripes and so went with that.

In Melbourne just recently, I was recounting this history as another example of how we learn from our guests, and another gentleman told us that it wasn’t a grunt; it was a Menhaden. Several other identifications followed for the rest of the weekend.

Contest Rules

So now I want to use one of my “lifelines” and “ask the audience” (as on the game show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”). Here are your choices (in the order we received them):

  1. Mullet
  2. Yellow-tailed Snapper
  3. grunt (give the specific species)
  4. Menhaden
  5. Lane Snapper
  6. Pinfish
  7. Bermuda Chub
  8. other (must tell species to receive credit)

Vote with a comment to this post before June 1, 2018. We will randomly select up to three winners from the entries with the correct answer.

To see the Note click here.To hide the Note click here.
The correct answer will be determined with insight from contributors and evidence available from the image. If we can’t find the definitive answer by June 1st, the answer with the most votes will prevail.

Winners will receive ten dollars off of any print (either Nancy’s or your own). Prizes may be combined with other promotions or coupons. Entrants need not be present to win.  Good luck!


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Comments

7 responses to “Name This Fish”

  1. Walter Rojter Avatar
    Walter Rojter

    In spite of the image being degraded by excessive cropping, my vast expertise on fish species tells me it is a Pinfish.

  2. Bruce Avatar

    I am copying this comment from a friend and KCC member who responded via email 5/13/2018 due to technical problems.

    It is a Blue Striped Grunt. Good shot, by the way.

    Frank Jiménez

  3. Bruce Avatar

    I am copying this comment from a friend who responded on the Bee Happy Graphics LLC facebook page 5/4/2018.

    Stripey snapper?

    Jesse Mann

  4. Bruce Avatar

    I am copying this comment from a visitor to the Bee Happy Graphics LLC facebook page 5/16/2018.

    A. Mullet

    Miles Hill

  5. Bruce Avatar

    I am copying this comment from David Wicks, published on the Kendall Camera Club Forum around 5/16/2018.

    salema porgy

    Possibly the fish in question

  6. Bruce Avatar

    The contest is over and the results are in. We had five contributors with five different votes – so much for my “ask the audience” lifeline. I had to eliminate nine contenders by careful analysis. Although mullet received one vote, it doesn’t even remotely resemble the fish in question. Yellow-tailed snappers have a wider yellow stripe, rather than the pinstripes shown. The anal fin on the lane snapper is too long and too far from the tail. Stripey snappers, receiving one vote, live in Australia. The blue-striped grunt received one vote, but the anal fin was again too long and did not extend back far enough. Other grunts had similar problems. On menhaden, the dorsal fin is too far forward. The salema porgy received one vote and looked fairly close, but the eye was too small, too far back and more centrally located vertically. Finally, Bermuda chubs have a higher profile and no yellow pinstripes.

    The fish is, in fact, a pinfish. My analysis has been confirmed with at least one marine biologist. Our sole winner is, therefore, Walter Rojter of the Kendall Camera Club. In case I didn’t mention it, this ten-dollar-off prize has no expiration date, is transferable, and may be combined with other awards and coupons (awarded by Bee Happy Graphics). Congratulations, Walter!

  7. […] or naturalists among you, the next contest is already underway. Check out our last blog post, Name This Fish. And I still have a math question which I may get to by the end of the summer. Don’t go […]

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