This isnt a normal fish and I need help with an I.D

[Mr. E Wrasse]

I figured id try here first but I am completely lost. I know just about every fish down here in south florida since I dive a ton but this one is a wild card. I think its a wrasse and maybe its invasive I dont know. I caught it in 40 feet of water on a sabiki rig which is used to catch bait and has really small hooks.

 

[evolved]

A perfectly normal fish in it's native environment, rather.

Xyrichtys novacula: Pearly razorfish

 

[Mr. E Wrasse]

Thanks for the reply! I've never seen on of these guys before!

 

[miamiangler]

Used to catch tons of them while fishing off the Long Key bridge In the Florida keys ,usually to big to put Into the aquarium .

 

[eatbreakfast]

A perfectly normal fish in it's native environment, rather.

Xyrichtys novacula: Pearly razorfish

Just splitting hairs, it is a Xyrichtys, but not novacula, which are not found in Florida, but rather it is more likely Xyrichtys psittacus.

 

[Mr. E Wrasse]

Used to catch tons of them while fishing off the Long Key bridge In the Florida keys ,usually to big to put Into the aquarium .

That's cool! Yeah they seem to be aggressive in the predatory sense. I wonder why ive never seen one while diving before

 

[evolved]

Just splitting hairs, it is a Xyrichtys, but not novacula, which are not found in Florida, but rather it is more likely Xyrichtys psittacus.

Perhaps we're looking at different sources, but:

Xyrichtys novacula:

Distribution

Western Atlantic: North Carolina, USA and northern Gulf of Mexico (Ref. 7251) through the Caribbean to Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: southern coast of Spain to south of Cape Lopez, Gabon and including the Mediterranean, Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cape Verde and Sao Tome Island.

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR="bgcolor: #FAFCFE"]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]1974[/TD]
[TD]R.L. SHIPP, D.M. DEAN, R.D. NESTER[/TD]
[TD]R.L. SHIPP[/TD]
[TD] AMNH 80923[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]GULF OF MEXICO, SOUTH OF PENSACOLA BAY, FLORIDA[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



And as for psittacus, that redirects to novacula:
[TABLE="class: basic, width: 80%, align: center"]
[TR="class: t_header2"]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd"]
[TD="width: 200"]Xyrichthys psittacus (Linnaeus, 1766) [/TD]
[TD="width: 200"] Xyrichtys novacula (Linnaeus, 1758) [/TD]
[TD="width: 200"]Pearly razorfish[/TD]
[TD="width: 200"]Labridae[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[TABLE="class: noborderx, width: 80%, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 4, align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[eatbreakfast]

You're right, my info is currently incorrect.

There are a couple of morphological differences between the eastern and western atlantic individuals, and they remain isolated from one another, so I will not be surprised if the species is reerected in the next few years, but as of now psittacus is considered a synonym of novacula.