Given the windy conditions making fishing the surf off of the rocks impossible for a third straight day, I came back to my trusty local pier to see if I could find any new species. To make a long story short, I ended up catching three new species of cardinalfish and a new snapper species. Sometimes identifying different species of fish is difficult if there are many species that look similar. That just happened to be the case here. Turns out there are actually several that look almost identical, especially during the day when their colors are washed out.
The final five cardinalfish that I caught all looked like the same species when I first caught them, but after doing some research and with talking to sgmultispeciesfishing ( / sgmultispeciesfishing , they were at least two different species. I ended up looking at three different metrics to distinguish between them. These metrics were the body depth to standard length ratio, the eye diameter to head length, and serrations on the posterior preopercular edge. Below are the identifying markers for three different species that all matched my catches at first.
Gon's Cardinalfish (Archamia bleekeri):
body depth to standard length ratio: 2.6-3.2
eye diameter to head length: 2.7-4.4
posterior preopercular edge serrations: smooth except at angle
Orangelined Cardinalfish (Taeniamia fucata):
body depth to standard length ratio: 2.3-2.9
eye diameter to head length: 2.7-3.5
posterior preopercular edge serrations: variable, usually with few or no serrae above angle
Dusky-tailed Cardinalfish (Taeniamia macroptera):
body depth to standard length ratio: 2.4-2.7
eye diameter to head length: 2.55-3.0
posterior preopercular edge serrations: completely serrate, or nearly so
Given these metrics, I analyzed each of my five catches and found that the first three would be too difficult to identify because their measurements fell within range for two or more different species. However, my last two catches had metrics that only fit a single species.
Fish No. 4:
body depth to standard length ratio: 2.4
posterior preopercular edge serrations: positive
Fish No. 5:
body depth to standard length ratio: 2.4
posterior preopercular edge serrations: negative
Given that both fish No. 4 and fish No. 5 have a body depth to standard length ratio of 2.4 neither can be a Gon's cardinalfish (Archamia bleekeri). Given that fish No. 4 does have serrations on the posterior preopercular edge, that means it has to be a dusky-tailed cardinalfish (Taeniamia macroptera). Given that fish No. 5 does not have serrations on the posterior preopercular edge, that means it has to be an orangelined cardinalfish (Taeniamia fucata).
As mentioned, the first three fish unfortunately can't be identified in this process since their body depth to standard length ratio, their eye diameter to head length, and posterior preopercular edge serrations all fall within the categories of two or more of these species.
As always I'm open to hearing any thoughts on the true identity of the species I've caught and if you have some information you'd like to share about them I'd love to hear it.
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References
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2023.FishBase.
World Wide Web electronic publication.
www.fishbase.se/summary/60358
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2023.FishBase.
World Wide Web electronic publication.
fishbase.mnhn.fr/summary/taen...
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2023.FishBase.
World Wide Web electronic publication.
www.fishbase.se/summary/Archa...
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Fishing Equipment Used
St. Croix Triumph Travel 5'6" ULF: amzn.to/2N6Dc4t
Daiwa Legalis 1000 Reel: amzn.to/3guuBAZ
Berkley Vanish 4 Pound Fluorocarbon: amzn.to/3MoNg1b
Gamakatsu Half Moon Hooks: amzn.to/3UPRhRX
Daiichi Size 18 Hooks: amzn.to/3DIyaSx
Water Gremlin Split Shots: amzn.to/3aM9vku
Recording Equipment Used
DJI Osmo Action 3: amzn.to/3Gl5qRa
SanDisk 256GB Extreme microSDXC: amzn.to/40wUVl9
Camera Accessories: amzn.to/3G8FFT1
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