Threadfin jack juvenile

Threadfin Jack JuvenileThis week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Fake.’ See more responses here. I don’t really have many photos that fit this bill, but this one does. This exotic-looking little fish is a juvenile threadfin jack. This is a fish that will grow up to become large and blocky, living in deep water and rarely seen by snorkelers of divers.

But as a juvenile, while still not often seen, it hangs around in shallow waters towing this extraordinary array of filaments. The theory is that the filaments make it look like a jellyfish and thus much less appetizing to predators. The fish will putter along, then throw in a few moves that make the filaments ripple. The first time I saw one doing this, I thought it was a jellyfish. It faked me out, which is exactly the point.

Usually, each year I see one, two, or even three of these juveniles in my local snorkeling bay, but this year I haven’t seen any or heard of them being spotted by anyone else. Not sure why this is. The water has tended to be murkier than is usual in the summer, but otherwise not much has changed. May and June is the usual time to see them, but I have seen them as late as September, so there’s still time. (This photo is taken from a previous year.)

I hope one or two do show up. Seeing them is one of the highlights of the snorkeling year for me.

16 thoughts on “Threadfin jack juvenile”

  1. Pingback: Threadfin jack juvenile | Graham's Island

    1. Graham's avatarGraham Post author

      They’re one of my favorite fish to see, but sadly, this year, I haven’t seen any where I usually do. Don’t know what that’s about, but the water has been unusually murky this year so that may have something to do with it.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Graham's avatarGraham Post author

          Yes, Don’t know what’s going on this year, though the experts are saying that in the next month we can expect a major coral bleaching. If it happens that will be very bad news.

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            1. Graham's avatarGraham Post author

              All those things contribute to coral bleaching, but this episode is mostly related to a spell of high sea temperatures. We had one four years ago and it was really bad for the coral, which has taken this long to even begin recovering. If this one is as bad, then I dread to think what will be left in the aftermath.

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  4. The Snow Melts Somewhere's avatarThe Snow Melts Somewhere

    I would definitely fake out too if one came my way 😁 What an inspired take on the theme – nature has the most imaginative details. Hopefully they’ll show up this year, too. And I hope your waters are murky for different reasons than ours…

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    1. Graham's avatarGraham Post author

      Nature is full of things pretending to be other things, which we humans do quite a lot of too. I’m not sure why our waters are murky this year. Last winter’s storms brought in more sand so that could be one reason, but it seems like there’s just more particles in the water in general. What makes your water murky? Not what it sounds like I hope.

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        1. Graham's avatarGraham Post author

          Ah, toxic algae. Where I used to live, the local swimming lake developed a toxic algae bloom every year and, every year, they closed it down for swimming. Not sure it’s a good idea to ignore the problem.

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