Fish Identification

[j103172]

Hello all ~
I'm a long time Scuba and Skin Diver and a new spearo. I've been silently lurking in various forums and web pages gaining insight and knowledge before I take the plunge into hunting.

I've lived in Okinawa Japan for about 1 year, but I'm not able to quickly identify good eating game fish. I'm hesitant about taking an animal if it's not worth eating..... I want to be able to enjoy the harvest.

My question: Is there an online database or reference book out there that shows edible game fish, both reef and blue water for the area I live in, or perhaps different ocean basins in general? I’ve contacted a local who is heavily involved in the sport to show me the ropes. However, I still would like to have access to some sort of reference though.

Thanks in advance and I’ll be sure to post my first taking…. Regardless of the size J

Cheers,
JG

 

[Shadowkiller]

www.fishbase.org

Good eating fish in Japan (that I know about), include Knifejaw (Oplegnathus punctatus) and the various Jacks (Carangidae), Gropers (Serranidae) and Leatherjackets (Monocanthidae).

From the main page on Fishbase, go to Country, select Japan, and click on "Marine".

That gives you a complete listing of all Marine fishes known from Japanese waters.

 

[island_sands]

Shadowkiller
When are you going to change your "Digital Hunter" to "Digital Hunter a.k.a. Marine Biologist Phd"?



Congratulations again young man We are all proud of you

 

[j103172]

Shadowkiller,

Exactly what I was looking for. Amazing how much time you can spend looking for data on the WWW and not find it.....

Thanks again, now I won't needlesly shoot Nemo

 

[Ricochet]

What the heck...

fishbase.org....

"You are not authorized to view this page
The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list.

Please try the following:

* Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page.

HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.
Internet Information Services (IIS)"
:rcard

 

[trux]

Looks like they know well who is killing all the fish in the seas, and better deny access to such dangerous species as spearos or freedivers (who are potential spearos anyway)

Advice: use a remote proxy or anonymizer

 

[island_sands]

try www.c48.com

 

[Shadowkiller]

Looks like they know well who is killing all the fish in the seas, and better deny access to such dangerous species as spearos or freedivers (who are potential spearos anyway)

Yez, we Germans are dangerous peoples.

Then why do I have observer access to Fishbase (I can change things)? :martial

 

[Huan]

What the heck...

Try fishbase.de

 

[Ricochet]

Thanks

Still, I find that discriminating :rcard
Or maybe it's just a very odd way of load balancing.

 

[Shadowkiller]

nah, Fishbase just has a habit of falling over every so often. Usually when Im running a search thats taken me 15minutes to put together. rofl

 

[Craig Thailand]

What was said that is discriminating?? All the guy said was spearos, i doubt read that you are from Germany and then thought he would make a comment aimed in directly at your grandfathers, your thinking to much bro. A spearo is a spearo as long as he spears, you fookin Natzi!

Just kiddin:t

 

[trux]

Craig, I think his comment was not about my joking, but about Fishbase restricting access from some IP addresses.

However, that is a quite common practice. Many administrators will restrict access from addresses of past abuse, source of spam, or hacking attempts or scans. There are security software applications (for example Portsentry) detecting such activity and automatically locking out the given address for a period of time. Since most people use dynamic IP address (changing at each login or after a few hours), it is well possible that your IP address was used by a hacker just before. In case of doubts and continuing access problems, I'd recommend contacting the administrator and ask for removing the block.

You can also buy a CD from Fishbase, where you can then browse the database offline. I have one, and it is excellent, although it is already 6 years old.

 

[poacher]

try www.c48.com

What is this all about I went there and to join I would have to pay so did not
What is it for?

 

[sherwoodwc]

I have spent over 5 years in Okinawa and have eaten most of the fish there. However I did marry a local ( Kinda ) she's from Miyako south of Oki. She has told me that you can eat them all. However I like the red ones with big eyes and parrot fish the best. If you ever head off zampa misaki ( Bolo Point ) there are some tuna and other big fish. I'm hoping to get back to Oki in the next year or so. I hope to see ya spearing sometime.

 

[Gyro]

So many thanks for the site. Huge time saver!
Big ups