We have a real mystery brewing on the island. A couple days ago our guest Eric from Bakersfield, CA brought back a photograph of a fish, that so far, has not been identified.

Unidentified Mystery Fish

The whole 8 pound fish almanac came out more than once and we aren’t any closer to knowing what it is. After a collective effort at the pool, we have no choice but to turn this over to the Internet. We’re stumped.

That was fast… Thanks to Kathy in Australia, here’s the scoop on our mystery fish:

Hi Bill and Team,

I know this fish well. It is a Brown Coral Blenny (Atrosalarias fuscus). They are one of the combtoothed blennies and spend all of their time defending small territories and scraping algae and detritus from dead coral. The juveniles are bright yellow but turn that dark brown colour when they become adults. They live in sheltered shallow reefs and hides among the branches of live and dead coral. I see them commonly in the Southern Great Barrier reef on islands such as Heron and Lady Elliot Reef, although they are recorded throughout the entire Indo-Pacific region. They are usually very difficult to photograph as they are very shy. Congratulations to the photographer for getting such a great shot!