Fish ID Please

[SWANK-E]

i am just wondering if this is (another) baby flathead i managed to hook... can someone please verify?

caught this in the Melbourne CBD next to the Elizabeth Street drain, hooked up properly thru the mouth too

i am getting quite good at catching tiny fish specimens

[SWANK-E]

haha, forgot the picture

[madaff]

Looks more like a Gurnard than a flathead, there used to be tones of them in the Swan River but they have all but gone. Although they had larger paddle type pectoral fins and were quite colourfull

[Dave W]

Looks like an overgrown Mud Skipper, or maybe a baby Gurnard ?

I'm sure someone will drag out the fish I.D. books for you

[blackwater]

Thats a goby. There are heaps of them in the maribyrnong and yarra rivers. The ones you catch more often have bright blue markings on them. I have seen 3 different types(i think) of goby in the maribyrnong by catching them on lures.

[pw-bream]

I have to be a dissenting voice here and say I'm rather sure that is a juvenile Sand Flathead (Platycephalus bassensis).

Look at the dorsal fin arrangement, look at the barred tail fin, look at the speckled/mottled sides, look at those pectoral fins,
look at the eye placement and shape, look at the scale pattern.


http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/Pictu...3&what=species

They are the most common fish in PPB.

[bparker]

Like Blackwater, I'm pretty confident it's a Goby...I've caught plenty of the bait stealing mongrels while fishing around Victoria.

There's a South Australian video called "Bream Fishing in Australia - Part one" by a guy called Andre Georgescu who refers to these fish as gobies (can't remember the full name) and uses them as live bait for large bream!!

[Geoff R]

I'm calling it for a flathead, the fins are in all the right places

I caught this baby prawn and i once got a similar flathead.
Geoff

[pw-bream]

A goby has a different scale pattern and its eyes stick out more at the top in my opinion.
Here are some Goby pics for comparison:
http://www.niwa.cri.nz/pubs/mr/archi...goby_large.jpg

http://www.desertfishes.org/australia/fish/chlajap1.jpg

[SWANK-E]

yep, it definitely didn't look like a goby and more like a flathead

[F.B.]

swank-e i also got one on sunday, im sticking with the flathead theory. lol also caught a 3inch mullet through the mouth.

[SWANK-E]

so in theory, if we fish the drop-offs, we might land some flatheads as well?

I reckon it looks more like a Goby to me. I've had them in Aquaria and they look very similar. The head doasn't seem flat enough, and the tail looks a bit weird, for a flathead.
Oh well.

Dave

[MATTY]

easiest way to rule out a flattie is check gill covers for spikes,even the smallest flatties have em.

[Alex]

It is not a flathead. I saw 2 inch in the water and they look exactly the same as mature flatties.
Also, flathead has bouble fins on both sides just below the head. This fish has single fins. The big round fin on the belly is also against flathead.

Alex