Porkfish

Common Name: Porkfish
Scientific Name: Anisotremus virginicus

Family: Haemulidae - Grunts
Class: Actinopterrygii - ray-finnned fishes

Conservation status: Not yet assessed
Sighting: Common on rocky reef areas.


Yesterday we went to Dania beach (John U. Lloyd beach park), in fort Lauderdale, and found a great snorkeling area. The tide was low, the water transparent as if it was not there, and the cloudless sun beamed through the quiet waves creating a magic diving atmosphere.

The interesting area starts around 200 ft - 60 mt from the shore. Although a bit deep for our poor snorkeling abilities, (10 feet -3 meters), the algae bottom starts to become a reef, with large coral formations, and plenty of colorful fishes.

We captured many interesting creatures that we are now identifying, so we can post them, but as a primer, here is a short video of this graceful school of porkfish. The only thing not to like is the awful name for these beautiful grunt fishes.
We could not take a good close up picture, they swim so fast!, so a frame from the video will have to do. 

We had seen porkfish before, in Virginia keys. It is very easy to identify, with its two distinctive black strikes in the front, but we had not seen them on groups, always as one or two specimens swimming among other species (most in this series of videos are yellow fins).

Watch this space for better pictures and more videos of porkfish.