Bream and Others
Bream Family
Whitecheek Monocle Bream
Red is the first wavelength to disappear in deep waters, so this red fish will look black at the seabed. this helps it blend into the darker corals.
Sand and mud bottoms near reefs, 10 to 60 m depth. Occurs solitary, but may school deep. Feeds on benthic organisms.
At times their colors are fairly drab but in the summer months some specimens have more intense colors which is presumably mating related.
They darken their colors at night, presumably for camouflage purposes.
They are reportedly quite tasty.
Lattice Bream
Highly rated as a food fish, although it sells for a low price and no major fishery exists. Sold fresh and prepared steamed or used for fish balls; sometimes salted or dried
A popular bait to use when sailfishing
This is not the Ang Goli fish
Ornate Threadfin Bream
Females predominate at small sizes and males at larger sizes as result of faster growth rates in males.
Occurs on mud or sand bottoms.
the shiny body helps to confuse predators when the bream schools together. It is difficult to pick out 1 fish from a school of shiny reflections.
Monogrammed Monocle Bream
Breams have excellent eyesight and are usually found close to the bottom looking for prey with a stop start movement
They are also call monocle bream because of their large eyes, usually, animal with large eye have excellent night vision, large eyes allows for more light to enter the eye
Some people calls this the chemical fish, because of a fishy smell when consumed, Deep frying or BBQ would remove this smell and the meat is of excellent quality.
Others Family
Cardinal Fish
Cardinalfishes are considered non-monogamous pairs. The females are promiscuous and are wiling to mate with multiple males. The Cardinalfishes are easy to breed once a mated pair forms. The females usually defend the male during and after reproducing. Cardinalfishes are paternal mouthbrooders, meaning the male keeps the eggs
After spawning, the female will be very protective of the male. (Clingy Bitch)
Unlike most marine fishes, cardinalfishes produce a very small number of eggs, which the males brood and incubate in their mouth.
Cardinalfishes have been ranked as one of the ten most valuable marine aquarium fishes
Cardinalfishes have become a popular aquarium fish because of its attractive appearance, rarity, limited distribution, and interesting biology.
Although the females initiate courtship, female and male cardinalfish are mutually selective. Females have been observed courting larger males more intensively.
Butterfly Whiptail
AKA ‘See Leng Zeng’. This is usually not the target fish and has the tendency to steal bait from bigger hook because of its small mouth. They have been given the Hokkien name ’See Leng Zeng’. Which means an irritating person.
The name comes from the beautiful whip on its tail
They taste really good when fried, and its small size makes it a good snack.
Blackspot Tuskfish
It heavily fished for for the live seafood trade. It is also highly sought after by recreational fishermen throughout its distribution.
Smart Animal: The only fish in the world with recorded tool use: Along with blackspot tuskfish and a few other wrasse species, orange-dotted tuskfish have been observed taking small Clams into the mouth and smashing them against a rock, a form of tool use by animals
This Tuskfish appear in BBC blue planet: you can see the video of the Tuskfish smashing open a clam in one episode
This tuskfish can use a rock as an anvil to smash a clam shell open.
In Hong Kong, its Cantonese name, tsing yi (Cantonese:青衣), has been given to an island (see Tsing Yi).
Bengal Sergeant
A fish that like to hang out near jetties
On Tioman island, the fishes have learnt to stay near the jetties because the tourist on the island would feed them with leftover bread from breakfast. They have also climatized to people and will swim up to people swimming along to shore if food is present.
The larger species tend to feed mainly on algae, many others are omnivorous, consuming algae and small invertebrates, while others rely on planktonic items.
They are rarely caught for food., low meat and tasteless
The primary fishery value of damselfishes is through the ornamental marine aquarium trade. Goes for $20 per fish.
Pufferfish
Puffer fish, when eaten, are toxic to predators—and even humans? According to Claricoates, despite this risk, countries such as Korea, China and Japan consider puffer fish a culinary delicacy and only specially-trained chefs know how to serve them safely. The toxins creates a special numbness in the mouth.
The toxin in the puffer fish, called tetrodotoxin, is found throughout its body, and is actually produced by bacteria, Puffers that have been raised in a bacteria-free environment experimentally did not produce the toxin in that instance.
the chefs who prepare Fugu, or puffer fish fillets, were not interested in serving a fish that did not have the toxin, as the numbing effect from the toxin when the fish is eaten is the appeal of eating puffer fish,
about a half dozen diners die every year from the paralyzing effects of eating puffer fish
If they are unable to get away, they enact the process they are known for: they gulp in a large amount of water (or if out of water, air) to make themselves large and unappealing, she said. This puffing, in addition to their spines and quills, makes them tough for a predator to swallow (and may get stuck in a throat).
Many fish species have teeth that stop growing at some point, but puffer fish do not. Because they eat hard foods, they have teeth (also called beaks) that continuously grow throughout their lives,
Yellowtail Fusilier
AKA, the ‘Potatol fish’, The smooth meat of this fish makes it an excellent and popular choice for making fishballs. Usually the flesh is grinded into paste and made into fish balls.
commonly caught on sabiki, cause They feed midwater on zooplankton (floating small sea creatures)
Although their colour is predominately yellow/blue, at night and when resting their colours change to red/green.
They are among the few economically important fish of the coral reefs and catching them requires a different mode of fishing (chase them into commercial fishing nets, comes with lots of bycatch) because you cannot haul the fishing nets over the corals & reefs! These fusiliers are commonly found in large schools over coastal reefs where there’s safety in numbers.
Flathead
It is the most popular fish targeted by amateur fishermen due to its numbers and relative ease of capture.
Sand flathead can be caught on a variety of baits and lures providing they are fished close to a sandy bottom.
Care is needed in removing hooks from this species as its sharp teeth can inflict a painful bite that can easily break the skin.
All flatheads have very sharp spines on the back of their gill cover and on their dorsal fins that are capable of inflicting deep wounds to the unwary fisher. The spines, covered with a mucous, can cause a localised reaction and sometimes intense pain. Treatment for such reactions include washing with mildly acidic fluids, such as vinegar, or application of a topical anaesthetic cream.
Some anglers believe the pain of the sting of the Flathead fish can be reduced by rubbing the slime of the belly of the same fish that caused the sting on the inflicted wound, due to a particular gland in its belly
Flathead use this body structure to hide in sand (their body colour changes to match their background), with only their eyes visible, and explode upwards and outwards to engulf small fish and prawns as they drift over, using a combination of ram and suction feeding thereby improving their chances to catch prey
Its a delicious fish, great as a fish and chips fillet.
Flounder
Flatfish begin life symmetrically, as regular-looking fish with eyes on either side of their head. About a month into their development, the fry undergo a metamorphosis: Their skull shape begins to change, and one eye begins to migrate over the fish’s head to join the other.
their pigment also changes, making them light on their belly side and dark on their back—a type of camouflage called countershading.
Once this change is complete, the fish will settle onto the seafloor, its dark back blending into its surroundings and its eyes well positioned for spotting predators or prey.
Flatfish are masters of camouflage, thanks to their ability to mimic the various colors of the ocean floor. The fish expand and retract their chromatophores—pigment-containing cells—to quickly change color if threatened or stalking prey. They can also bury themselves quickly in the sand, protruding their independently moving eyes to keep watch without being seen.
People target this group heavily in commercial and recreational fisheries. They have firm meat that fishermen consider an excellent quality.