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REEF
Invertebrate Invasive
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- by Wes Nicholson In reviewing scan forms we see questionable identifications - fish reported well outside of their normal ranges. Mistakes in identification can be avoided by learning and adopting sound techniques for fish identification - see the Fish ID Tips page. Common misidentifications: It is likely that people are incorrectly identifying a wide range of small sculpins as Scalyhead Sculpins. It is extremely hard to determine the species of many of our small sculpins while you are underwater. If you cannot positively identify what you saw as a Scalyhead Sculpin then please report it as an unidentified sculpin. It is likely that the pictures in Humann's book do not give you enough detail for identifying Scalyhead Sculpins. REEF may add a Small Unidentified Sculpin category for these hard to identify species. Some may be mistakenly identifying Red Irish Lords as Brown Irish Lords. This is particularly true for people diving in Puget Sound. The Red Irish Lord can often take on a brownish color with little red. Brown Irish Lords are generally found along rocky shorelines bordering directly on the Pacific Ocean and often in very shallow water. It appears
that people might be incorrectly reporting Giant
Kelpfish sightings. Although the range of the Giant Kelpfish may
extend north to Southern BC, they are rare in the PNW. People may have
mistaken either Whitespotted or Rock Greenlings for the Giant Kelpfish. Quillback rockfish being called China rockfish - Note: China rockfish are not found in the Puget Sound and the southern interior waters of British Columbia. China rockfish are found in open coastal areas - such as the west side of Vancouver Island. Tiger rockfish are being called Treefish - Treefish are found in southern CA waters and not in the PNW. Painted greenlings have been called Tiger rockfish - uuhh, I guess they both have bars. China rockfish have been called black and yellow rockfish - black and yellow rockfish are found in central and southern CA and not in the PNW. Rock soles are being called English soles. Saddleback gunnels are being called crescent gunnels. Crescent gunnels are being called Saddleback gunnels. Crescent gunnels are much more common than Saddlebacks. Red phase crescent gunnels (with very small crescent markings) are being called longfin gunnels. Other Apparent Misidentifications A review of the data for the PNW shows that people have likely been wrong in reporting the following species but it is hard to tell just what they did see:
- Copyright 2003 Wesley E. Nicholson |
