Isle of Shoals

[CFDAlden]

Hit the Isle of Shoals this past weekend. Went with a LDS charter, and was on the boat Deep sea fishing in New Hampshire and Maine - Seafari fishing charters. Crew was great, and very knowledgeable about the area!

4 dives over two days. I sat one out, as I wasn't feeling so great. Sick from the time I woke up.

A couple of pics:




If anyone can ID the little critter to the right of the Urchin, I'd be greatful!





More in the album:
2009 Isle of Shoals pictures by CFDAlden - Photobucket

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by CFDAlden

If anyone can ID the little critter to the right of the Urchin, I'd be greatful!

It's a bit hard to make out, but I'm guessing it may be a blenny.

[wgt]

I was thinking that it might be a sculpin.

Originally Posted by MSilvia

It's a bit hard to make out, but I'm guessing it may be a blenny.

[MSilvia]

Grubby sculpin was my first thought, but I couldn't make out any of the characteristic fins. It sort of looks like a tadpole with a striped tail to me, but it obviously isn't that. The size, absense of prominent fins, and stripes made me think blenny, but the head does look way too big... yeah, I'm going to change my answer.

I think it's a grubby sculpin with his pectoral fins against his body.

[CFDAlden]

It looked just like a striped tadpole. I do remember seeing fins, as he adjusted position. Not having a macro option can be a pain, lol. I took 10 pictures of the beast, and that's best of the lot.

[turnpikemike]

I think I've seen a few of those, but I've never really been able to identify which species they are, but it's definitely a sculpin. I would have thought shorthorn, but grubby might be a better guess. Here's a picture I took of what I think is the same fish, with a clearer view (I took it while snorkeling at Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA).

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by turnpikemike

(I took it while snorkeling at Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA).

Where on that sand trap of a beach did you find something to look at?

[MConnelly2]

You DID bring home that bug in the last photo, yes?

[CFDAlden]

Not that one, but we did buy a slew of them for the divers in our group, and had a lobster boil for all. Grabbing bugs by hand in Maine is bad juju.

[turnpikemike]

Originally Posted by MSilvia

Where on that sand trap of a beach did you find something to look at?

The very southern part of the beach, around the big rocks, right in front of the Ocean Club. It's actually a pretty good place to snorkel, and I've dived there several times, too. There are some good boulder patches around on the other side of the huge rocks, and there's usually something cool to see (I saw 7 or so pretty large tautogs last weekend). But the main reason I go is just that it's the closest beach I can easily get into since I live in Quincy.