One of the neatest things about this area is the very large (and relatively fast) tides. This is observable in today's pictures: compare the water levels in the 1300 and 1500 pictures; both pictures are looking out over the exact same little inlet/bay. One of the reasons we ate lunch on this island was that we had to wait until at least 1500 so our boat could come in and pick us up.
Our hourly pictures from the day are below. (This text was written after the trip)
06-15-04: 900
06-15-04: 1000
06-15-04: 1100
06-15-04: 1200
06-15-04: 1300
06-15-04: 1400
06-15-04: 1500
06-15-04: 1600
06-15-04: 1700
06-15-04: 2000
06-15-04: 2200
1 comment:
Importing comments:
Radagast
Hmm, my first guess was that these were probably just different names for the same fish. However, on looking further it appears that spiny lumpsuckers and northern tidepool clingfish are indeed different species. Based on the pictures I think this is probably a northern (tidepool) clingfish, but if you wanted I could check with my local marine biologist (who has done a lot of work in your area) and find out for certain.
This is the only example I saw of the fish, and we found it under rocks in the intertidal (we were having far too much fun carefully flipping them over looking for things), so I never saw it in the water column to see if it hovered. That sounds neat!
As a final note, I can't believe there is an actual fish species named the spiny lumpsucker.
July 20, 2004, 10:06:44 PM PDT – Like – Reply
Qov
Your northern tidepool clingfish looks like what I call a spiny lumpsucker? Varying from yellow and with a suction cup on its belly, really little pectoral fins and sort of hovers in the water? We also called it a helicopter fish, but I think that was a kids' name.
July 20, 2004, 9:35:16 PM PD
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