Need better identification!

[MuskieBait]

Just like in any kind of data search, academic or not, the same process is required. You need several sources to back up the information. Even in the most reputable scientific journal, mistakes do occur. Papers had been retracted before due to incorrect data. Nothing is perfect...so I would suggest searching through multiple sources.

I don't know what I'm going to do after graduation (have several options, but haven't decided on one yet)...but definitely not in academics. Today's granting system is chaotic at best. If you don't work in a specific research focus that is consistent with the granting agency, if you don't have collaboration with leading researcher in those specific focused areas, and if your research is not translational...very little chance of getting far in the long run. There are too many PhD's and post-docs backed up in the system competing for the limited and decreasing grants and positions...so no thanks.

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As a newbie with little idea, government guides is a start but it is not exhaustive either. There are many less common species that are not described on government published guides. A perfect example is the redhorse species. There are 6 in Ontario, but the MNR guide lumped them into one entry. There is danger in doing so since two of the redhorse species are endangered in Ontario and people often cannot distinguish redhorse species from common white suckers...and sucker species are used as bait in common practice.

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BTW, if you are interested in the answer and the difficulty in ID...this was my reply to my friend Eli's fish ID test.



Okay...here's my try for the center and right heads since Thomas got the family correct. Based on characteristics that I can confidently discern...

Center head:

- Anterior teeth conical and almost equal in size.
- Teeth on lower side of jaw are in rows of two.
- Can't tell if there are tubercles or not anywhere (places I would look are lower anterior section of maxilla and prefrontal bone...can't tell if it's white flesh or white bone :roll.
- Can't see posterior nasir clearly...hard to tell if it is a slit or round...

So that somewhat narrows down to

* Grass Porgy (Calamus arctifrons)
* Whitebone Porgy (Calamus leucosteus)
* Sheepshead Porgy (Calamus penna)

From the shape of the head, if I have to make a guess...Grass Porgy. The other two have much steeper heads.

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Right head:

- Anterior teeth conical and what looks like second and third tooth from symphysis (assuming mandible) enlarged but not outcurved.
- Teeth on lower side of jaw are in rows of two with irregular row of molariform teeth.
- Can't tell if there are tubercles or not anywhere (places I would look are lower anterior section of maxilla and prefrontal bone...can't tell if it's white flesh or white bone :roll.
- Can't see posterior nasir clearly...hard to tell if it is a slit or round...

There's only one in that case...

Jolthead Porgy (Calamus bajonado)

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Head on the left is a grunt species under the genus Haemulon. The orange lining in the mouth is a dead giveaway (pun intended). Haven't had time to analyze the dentition (if possible) to determine the species. But based on common size that is suitable for the table, and knowing the location of capture (Belize), I would say likely White Grunt, Bluestriped Grunt, Sailor's Grunt, White Margate or Black Margate.

Disclaimer: If I'm wrong (most likely), I'm blaming it on "Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Volume 2: Scorpaeniformes to Tetraodontiformes"