Got Anglers?

[Mr Cob]

Took the family to Port A this weekend, rained Friday night, water cloudy and choppy Saturday night....wife suggests we go back Sunday despite my refusal to go and the fact that is was the middle of the day (I was completely confident that we could catch NADA)...

BUT...

A woman's intuition always proves to be superior:

Here's a shot of one of the large Sargassum Anglers.... (we caught sizes from half an inch to 5 inches!!! We met a local named Chris who is also a member on MAAST but I forget his ID. Anyways we had a great time hunting with him Thanks, Chris!





Sargassum Seaweed with Anglers below (they blend so well!)


Only anglers in this pic...no seaweed... (Chris' bucket)


We also caught Broken Back Shrimp (they look like sexy shrimp?), Several Mollie Miller Blennies (both small and large), a couple of nudi-branches, a pipefish and some damsels. I also threw back a bunch. It was crazy...all this in the middle of the day.

We saw the sargassum out in the channel and just waited a couple of hours for it to hit shore and the stuff was full of life!

For those not aware....these anglers have a short lived life once they wash up on our shores and their natural habitat of sargassum seaweed dwindles out. It's a shame because they are such beautiful fish.

It was extremely amazing to just sit and watch the sargassum seaweed "raft" and all it's life. If you just stare at it a bit, like we do our home reefs, you can see all kinds of things moving around in it.

I had a great time and so pleased that we went back out on Sunday. We spent the entire day out on the jetties and the boys had a blast!

[Mr Cob]

Really interesting to read about the anglers and their habitat:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5...Sargassum-Fish

Quotes from the link above:

"Out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is a roughly million-square-mile area known as the Sargasso Sea. On the surface of this sea is an enormous mat of entangled, floating algae, kept in place by a combination of ocean currents and lack of winds. The movement of the currents which surround this sea, including the Gulf Stream, the Equatorial, the Canary and the Caribbean, collude to entrap anything that floats into this area and keep it, mostly, from escaping."

"They are so dependent on the sargassum that if a clump of weeds is pushed out of the Sargasso Sea and into the Gulf Stream Current by tropical storms, the fish will remain with its cover for weeks or months at a time, giving it a chance to flow all the way to our shores. I've found some still clinging to weed remnants barely larger than itself. In fact, if the weed is washed ashore, the fish will die on the beach with its host rather than abandon it."

[tebstan]

Wow! Very cool, thanks for sharing. Anglers fascinate me.

We also caught Broken Back Shrimp (they look like sexy shrimp?),

[allan]

Nice rob, they do well in an aquarium?

[Mr Cob]

Wow! Very cool, thanks for sharing. Anglers fascinate me.

Thanks! They are cool fish!

Nice rob, they do well in an aquarium?

Yes, if they are fed but not overfed. Also they should be in a species specific tank or predator tank. They do not eat corals but will eat any fish up to twice it's size.

[Mr Cob]

Jack, this one is yours.....he was the biggest and I had to separate him...he was eating the little ones...and fighting the bigger ones.

[txav8r]

Awesome Rob!!

Did you take any pics of the shrimp?

[RayAllen]

Very cool! I was thinking of putting one in the 180 FOWLR. Not sure if triggers will pick on them though like they do lion fish.

[roscozman]

Cool Rob. Do you know if there are any peppermint shrimp on the jetties at night yet?

[hobogato]

Cool Rob. Do you know if there are any peppermint shrimp on the jetties at night yet?

i got about 20 two weeks ago.