Monday, January 24, 2011

Could George be wrong?

Could our winner of the first "What is this?" Contest be wrong?  The Judges thought not until he claimed that the Skipjack Tuna detailed in an earlier entry was in fact an Atlantic Bonito.  Not so, I says.  Vic Dunaway's "Sport Fish of the Atlantic" confirms the catch as a Skipjack Tuna (stripes along the bottom) rather than a Bonito (stripes on top).  George's glaring mistake made us curious about previous piscatorial claims made by the master of all things fish in South Florida.  Further investigation ensued.

Janet (the marine biologist on Flyingfish - a sail boat, not a real flyingfish), loaned us a copy of Paul Humann & Ned Deloach's "Reef Fish Identification, Volume 1 of 3, Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas", where we learned that the answer to our first "What is this?" Contest is NOT Sea Robin.  It is in fact a Flying Gurnard (see pictures and description below - especially bottom, right hand side picture!).

As a result, the Judges have revoked George's prize and have decided to award it to the first person or couple who calls from the George Town, Exumas airport and says "I'm here.  Pick me up."  George remains a qualified entrant in this revised prize award program.

In the future, we will require scientific evidence of "What this is".

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