online visual fish directory???

I dived the Tanalooma wrecks this morn near Brisbane and was baffled by a strange fish several of them in fact. They were rather long, white with diagonal brown and yellow stripes and the backs of their bodies stepped down rather amazingly - the ends of their tails pointed to the ground. Alas, I didn't have a camera with me.

I was wondering does anyone know of a good site with photos or drawings of different fish species or a visual guide to the fish of Moreton Bay?? I am from far north Qld, and am just visiting Brissy for a few days...

Thanks, Tabitha

Contributed by TabithaH added 2007-05-20

Replies of 3

Wandy Hochgrebe added 2007-05-21: Could it have been a Crested Morwong? Scientific name Cheilodactylus vestitus. I use the Ichtyology web site of the Australian Museum a lot, but it is not easy to browse unless you have some idea what fish you might be looking at. They do have an 'Identify a Fish' section as well you could check out. Must say that I find books still the way to go if I have no idea what I am looking at with 'Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia' a really good starting point.

Wandy Hochgrebe added 2007-05-21: Sorry, the link didn't seem to work in my previous reply: http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/cvestit.htm

KarinC added 2009-04-15

Hi Tabitha,

It's pretty hard to ID fish without a photo as many of them are highly sexual dimorphic (that is males and females might look different and juveniles might look different again). Fish colours can also appear different underwater than on the surface.

If you want a cheap and cheerful book to help identify marine fish, I've found you can't go past a guy named Tony Ayling. His Amazing Facts About Marine Fishes book is pretty good for a general overview of loads of Aussie fish species as well as some great facts. check it out http://www.steveparish.com.au/product?code=101864

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