Want to play find the critters?
 

Late last night I went for a fabulous night dive and ran into lots of different critters. Here's a picture with various marine life in it. Let me know what creatures you see in the picture and identify them for the rest of the board; maybe even share a personal story regarding one or all of the critters. :wid:

Mike

I see a striper:bo:

#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&,

Wake up! You're seeing stripers again.

I spy a crab at one o'clock. Hate those things from my chunkin' days.

Looks like a Hermit Crab in the Pic too....right above the Flukes Head

What's the thing on the right, looks almost like an octopus?

-spence

Lobster top right???:confused:

its a crab

First off, it's a fair size flatfish -- a black back flounder or winter flounder -- not a fluke. No lobster in sight, but a decorator crab in the weeds.

Still more critters to ID.

Toadfish on bottom right corner?

Small lobster 4 oclock behind the weed thingie.

i always hated wheres waldo

There's a green crab at the bottom of the piling, a decorator crab in the weeds at 2 o'clock and there is a northern pipefish looking directly at the flounder, right next to the pile of weeds with the crab in it. The pipefish is similar to the sea horse in that the male keeps the eggs in a brood pouch. They blend into the weeds to the point where they are almost impossible to see. The claw of the lobster can be seen just under the pile of weeds.

Amazing how much life there is in a few square feet...and that is just what we can see.

Pretty nice Winter flounder..right eyed. ( Fluke are left eyed. )

How deep are you?

Sandman,

I was around 15 feet deep at that point. I ran into lots of nice black backs and some serious fluke as well. Find the bait, find the fish. That night I saw herring, menhaden, sennet, scad, silversides, squid, scup, sea bass, tautog, crabs, eels, stripers, lobsters, horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, lizard fish, and other tropicals yet to be identified.

Your earlier post about September being a great month for all kinds of fishing was right on the money.

Mike

Fish_Eye View
 

If anyone has a problem telling flounder from fluke...I have two foolproof ways of telling them apart.

First, look at the eyes with relation to the mouth. As Sandman stated earlier fluke or summer flounder are left-handed; that is, it lies on the bottom on its right side, with its eyes on its left-hand side, and its abdomen on its left. Winter flounder or blackback flounder are referred to as a right handed flounder because the eyes are located on its right side when the fish is pointing to the right.

If you can't tell your right from your left the second surefire way to tell the difference is to stick your finger in its mouth. If it comes out all bloody any perforated you know it's a fluke. :fishslap: :shocked:

cool fisheye photos, as always...

but I always found those fluke/flounder to be ugly critters :yak4: :usd:

tasty..though :uhuh:

cool stuffs, mike. you are making me miss the fishing. im at RIT now. i cant wait to hit there in spring

u ever see triggerfish in these waters?

Great picture. Night diving is great, especially in close around the jetties. I've done it a few times down here around Atlantic City. I'm always looking for the next world record bass, since the current record was caught just a few miles from my house.

The last dive I did at night around the jetty was about this time last year, and there were loads of sea bass, tog, stripers, small weakies, flounder, mullet, crabs, peanuts, and star fish around the jetty. I popped my head up towards the tip to tell the guys that were fishing to drop their lines right next to the rocks instead of casting out as far as possible away from the jetty, but right away I knew that they "no speaka Ingles".

I'll tell you, it pays to put the rod and reel down for one night, and get out there with a mask and snorkel (or tanks if you are certified) in order to see what's around and where. You can learn a lot in a short time.