Mystery critter

[Chenari]

Ok this guy was at the breakwater in Monterey a while ago. I don't remember the exact day, but it was at night. I never ID'd the critter and I've looked through two reliable fish books just to find nothing. Help?

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h65/c ... G_3540.jpg

[whatevah]

It looks like a juvenile rockfish to me. Identifying them is not something I'm very confident in, but some of the markings suggest Copper Rockfish or perhaps Vermilion Rockfish.

[Dusty2]

I would go with vermillion rock fish but it's tough to be sure

[Scott G]

its a juv blue rockfish

[Biodiversity_Guy]

I go with juv blue rockfish also. You can find it in the 2nd edition of Humann's book.

[nwscubamom]

For what it's worth, I third the motion that it's a Juvenile/Teenogre Blue Rockfish. You can already see the start of its stripes across its face even. Juvies are reddish speckled like yours. The soft dorsal is shaped just like that on a Blue.

So my vote...a Blue!

- Janna