Do you know what is this?

[majoramos]

Hi, can you guys help me? I live in Ecuador and I received this fish, I can't find what is it!

 

[mr_X]

It looks a lot like a batfish with the fins eaten off-
Orbiculate Batfish
I don't think the rest of the fins match up though.

 

[Macscale]

+1. With mr. X
I'm not sure how it lost them, but they certainly aren't there!

 

[majoramos]

Thanks for answering my question yes it is a type of spade fish I jus found it but I don't know the name and the fins are like that! I have 2 and they look the same!

 

[majoramos]

http://risingtideconservation.blogspot.com/2012/03/spadefish-update.html?m=1

This is what I found

 

[Macscale]

Well, if they are both like that... Hmm. I'm not sure then..

 

[majoramos]

This is what I found!

http://risingtideconservation.blogspot.com/2012/03/spadefish-update.html?m=1

 

[Andy Sager]

I'd have to agree with your findings. They look like juv. Atlantic Spadefish to me. I haven't had them smaller than say quarter size but the shape looks right even tho they aren't showing the stripes yet. This is what they should look like when they get older: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Atlantic_Spadefish_PLW_edit.jpg

Hope this helps

 

[majoramos]

But this pic you show me when it is small like a 5 cents coin it is grey with stripes, this one was found in the Pacific Ocean and it is orange red with yellow and black dots with one stripe that goes by the eye

 

[Andy Sager]

But this pic you show me when it is small like a 5 cents coin it is grey with stripes, this one was found in the Pacific Ocean and it is orange red with yellow and black dots with one stripe that goes by the eye

My initial thought was the same a Mr.X that it was an Orbicuaris bat only the fins had been chewed off however, there seems to be 2 fish in your picture that have the same shape and/ or deformity which was why I went towards Juv. Spadefish. Just being from the pacific no longer applies as the Atlantic ocean is now filled with Pacific lionfish species so there is no reason why someone couldn't have released Spadefish in the Pacific.
Let's take this a bit further, Do you know where in the Pacific they came from?

 

[majoramos]

From Ecuador, Esmeralda's is the place

 

[Andy Sager]

Okay. You may want to read this article I found about fish in Costa Rica: Spadefish
I can't say for sure that these ARE spadefish but aside from the colors, the shape is similar to Juv. spadefish. Coloration can also be changed due to available foods. Pacific Batfish are often found around the floating leaf litter so they have taken on that coloration for protection as well as from the foods available to them within this litter. This may explain the orangey coloration if these are spadefish. Plus, there is another wrinkle in this. In the past few years, Orbicularis bats have been seen and collected in the Florida Keys and have been observed schooling with Spadefish. So if you consider that they both are in the same family, what's to say that a misplaced Spadefish or one that made it's way through say, the Panama Canal, along with a released Orbic bat ( the ones in the keys were obviously released by an unknowing aquarist) couldn't have spawned and produced offspring with a spadefish's shape but an Orbics coloration? Obviously this is a theory but it could also be plausible as well as an explanation to the confusion for these fish. The fact that there are 2 with the same shape and color makes me leery of them both being deformed pure Orbic bats.

Are there any other endemic fish similar to the batfish or spadefish in Equadorian waters? These may just be juveniles of them? You may also want to send your info and pic to : New approaches to marine conservation in Ecuador | Fauna & Flora International
Maybe they can better identify them?

Hope this helps.

 

[Tony Gill]

I'm guessing Chaetodipterus zonatus ...so the eastern Pacific counterpart of the Atlantic spadefish.

Tony

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm guessing Chaetodipterus zonatus ...so the eastern Pacific counterpart of the Atlantic spadefish.

Tony

I need a better book. LOL That fish is not in my current ones. I even tried to google Spadefish look a likes and it didn't show up there either. It just seemed to unlikely for both to be Orbic bats with deformed fins.
Tony, Any recommendations for more comprehensive books for collectors like me?

 

[Tony Gill]

There are a few online resources for your neck of the woods Andy. Pretty well all of them need to be taken with a grain of salt though (as is true also of most books). I also use FAO's Western Central Atlantic guides too (which you can download from: The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras). As for the eastern Pacific, the Smithsonian Institution had a nice fish identification site based on Ross Robertson and Gerry Allen's book (though with substantially more information added). It was launched in 2008, but it seems to be down at the moment. There's some information on it here: Smithsonian puts tropical eastern Pacific shore fishes online.

Tony

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you for this info Tony

 

[Tony Gill]

No problem Andy. Glad to be of help.

Tony