Barrelfish Identification & Cold War Memories

Type: Ocean
Region: Eastern
Location: Ocean

This morning a request came in for fish identification from Larry Jock of the Coastal Fisherman in Ocean City. Looking at the photograph of the little fish in question rekindled an ember of memories that took be back to my younger days of fishing the offshore waters of New Jersey. As a young fisherman, budding fisheries biologist and mate on charter boats fishing the canyons such as the Hudson and Tom�s; I was always poking around in drift lines of Sargasso grass and flotsam with a dip net or with small baits often to the dismay of the captain. I would take my prizes back home and attempt to identify each new species that I encountered and would report back to the captain on my findings while heading out for our next charter. He would often joke to our fishermen calling me Jacque Cousteau, as I excitedly explained the things I�d learned about the creatures we encountered while fishing.

The little guy in the picture below is commonly called a Barrelfish or Black Rudderfish and can be found mixed in with dolphin, rudderfish, pilotfish and triggerfish hanging out underneath flotsam and large patches of grass offshore. Their scientific name is Hyperoglyphe perciformis and they range from Nova Scotia to Florida and are relatively common in New England waters. The size seen on the surface is usually around 12� to 14� in size but adults can be caught in waters 200� to 500� deep that grow to 36� in size and over 20lbs. The juveniles found under flotsam generally eat small fish, crustaceans and even barnacles. They can become prey for dolphin and wahoo if they are not careful and do a good job of staying close to their hiding place. The first one I ever saw was inside a waxed cardboard box that had Russian printing on it. Before the advent of our 200-mile limit, Soviet bloc countries extensively fished the continental shelf waters off the mid-Atlantic coast and routinely threw their garbage over the side. Since it was the cold war era, it seemed a bit unnerving as I recall, being amongst Soviet fishing ships bristling with every form of antenna imaginable; which were doing a little more than just fishing.

Photo courtesy Larry Jock