USVI-On-Line

Sorry, I can't get the photo to post here. Here is a link though if you don't mind checking it out. It's driving us crazy. We were a fair distance away, probably about 20 feet. We only have this one photo of it. I'm just going to call it a flying potato until someone tells me different.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/12919567@ ... /lightbox/

My guess is that it's an odd angle of a dusky damselfish or similar...I still like flying potato, though

Flying Potato fish is a good name for that very odd fish. Never seen one but
how exciting to see something different.

yep... tater fish...Other than that your pictures are very beautiful!!

Thanks for the responses. The strange thing is that neither my wife or I recall seeing it, so it probably is something unremarkable and just at a strange angle. The small tail reminds me of a stingray. Maybe it's a small one with it's wings folded up and the fins of a remora showing from underneath. I don't know what the blue would be though. My wife was hoping that maybe it was a flying gurnard as some of them have very colorful blue fins when opened fully.

Thanks David for the kind remarks. I guess we'll just have to go back and try to find it!

I don't believe it is a stingray-like tail at all, I think it is a normal fish tail but the view is looking directly down on the top edge of it. The tail is curved towards the fan coral. The long thin part is the top edge of the fin. Moving towards the body from the tail tip, the point at which it suddenly gets thicker(looks likw the "stinger") is actually the bottom tip of the tail partially visible.

Yeah, that makes sense. Now that you said that, what I took to be the right "wing" of a stingray is probably the dorsal fin as it is lighter in color than the body. WIsh it was better resolution. Thanks for the input!


hmm...I can also see the photo now that I am at home, where at work I couldn't. I guess I was doing it right at work. I use Chrome browser on both. I wonder what gives?

lark22 wrote:My guess is that it's an odd angle of a dusky damselfish or similar...I still like flying potato, though

Gidget made me rethink the orientation of the fish and I think you could be right.

I found this image through google search. I thought it was a much larger fish though given the sea fan.

Well, this piqued my curiosity so I've been googling. There are three species of damselfish that look very similar as adults, the Dusky, Cocoa and Longfin. There is also a certain amount of individual variation in color which makes ID even more difficult. But I am going to vote for Longfin based onthis description: http://www.snorkelstj.com/longfin-damselfish.html

I'm with you on that also. Thanks for the link. I really thought it was a pretty fair distance away. Guess my wife was much closer to it than I thought.

That is Acanthurus coeruleus. Common name, blue tang.

That is a Blue Tang one of 70 species of surgeonfish. The perspective makes it confusing but they range from nearly black to a light blue depending on the water. Pacific ones are lighter in color at least by my photos. Does make me long to see them up close and personal again and I have to wait til Feb.