Weird Amelia Island Backcountry Fish

The month of July proved to be a great month for fishing and I had a few trips where we were all surprised at what was at the end of the line!  The Brian Deem family were fishing with me and in addition to other fish, landed what we called a "puffer fish" but according to Carole Neidig, Staff Scientist for Mote Marine Labratory,  is a Striped Burrfish or also called a Spiny Boxfish (Chilomycterus schoepfii). They live in seagrass beds in bays and coastal lagoons and over shallow coastal reefs from Maine to Florida, although they are less common in the northern part of the range. They will puff up with air to increase their size when threatened.

Brian Shepley and his friend Jack Coward were fishing on The Anglers Mark and had a great day of catching and when Brian hooked up with a hard fighting fish we all thought, "Redfish".  But when he eventually brought the fish to net we were surprised to see a Tripletail!  The Atlantic Tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis)  is found from Massachusetts to Bermuda to Argentina and is normally seen in open waters, but can be caught in sounds, bays, and esturaries.  This was another first for The Anglers Mark!

Dan McBryan and his dad Lou picked up a very nice Flounder one day but Dan also landed a fish that I had never seen. Carole Neidig of Mote Marine also identified this one for us, a Lizard Fish (Synodus foetens) and is common in our waters. It is found both inshore and offshore but both are different species. The Offshore variety being much smaller. They are distributed throughout Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The Inshore Lizard fish is coastal. The Inshore Lizard Fish is larger than it's counterpart and is usually 15 to 16 inches in length. World Record is 2 lbs.