Spotted Drum (juvenile phase)
Sep 13, Oil Slick Leap dive site, Bonaire.
This is the same fish, spotted drum, as in the previous spotting but in a more juvenile phase. If you compare with the even younger juvenile of the first Jungledragon spotting for this species, you can see the nice morphological changes through their development. The initially long curved dorsal fin of the juvenile gets progressively shorter and the fish develops white spots in the tail as it matures.
And by the way, it is not a small fish as the description mentions. The babies are small but the adults can reach 27 cm in length.
The spotted drum or spotted ribbonfish , is a species of marine fish in the family Sciaenidae.
The spotted drum is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the occidental Atlantic Ocean from south Florida to Brazil including by the way the Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
It is frequently observed during the day under ledges or near the opening of small caves, at depths between 3 and 30 metres , where it swims in repetitive patterns. A nocturnal.. more
