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Rainbow Surfperch Monterey Bay Aquarium

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Photo of a striped surfperch, Embiotoca lateralis at Monterey Bay Aquarium You could prove me wrong and tell me this is not a parrot fish, but I believe it is after going through EVERY fish on the Monterey Bay Aquarium website. The photo they have of a parrot fish has the fish hiding in the rock so you don't get a very good view of him, but they do say that "their coloring ranges from reds to greens, blues and yellows, as well as grays, browns and blacks." I wish I'd made a note of the fish when I was there, but I didn't and it's well over a year since I was there.

Here's an update on what kind of fish this is; a kind member of the aquarium posted the below comment pointing out that the fish is actually a striped surfperch, Embiotoca lateralis. Thanks, "Aquaken"!
The Monterey Bay Aquarium located on the southern end of Monterey Bay on California's coast is one of the most amazing places you could ever get to visit. If you are ever in the area, make sure you get there. You won't be disappointed.

It was a pretty hard environment in which to take photos. Of course the fish are constantly on the move, people are pushing to get to the glass, and light is low. So to risk blurring you have to take a fairly short exposure, which means you have to go very high on the ISO selection. There was either a lot of stuff floating in the water, or there was water splashed on the glass, but in the original photo there are a lot of white blobs in the water around the fish. So I had to do something to remove this distraction and used Photoshop radial blur filter to eliminate them as well as to give a sense of motion about the fish. It's what you call making the most of a less-than-prefect shot.

Canon EOS 20D
1/100sec at f/5
ISO800
70~300mm lens at 170mm




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Comments

aquaken said…
Looks like a Striped surfperch, Embiotoca lateralis, to me. (I'm on staff at the aquarium.) Parrotfish are in the tropical section of the Splash Zone gallery.

It is a nice shot!
July 18, 2007 at 8:50 AM
Anonymous said…
I love this shot, you really did make the most of it. It looks like the fish is making tiny movements that are echoing in the water. Very nice.
July 29, 2007 at 6:25 AM
Anonymous said…
Nice shot. Here's a correction on the identification - it is a Rainbow surfperch. The scientific name is Hypsurus caryi

Jeff
June 7, 2008 at 8:57 PM
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