[newyorkcityman]

hey all,
i was out on a party boat in sheepshead bay saturday AM and while i was waiting for the boat to leave i was amusing myself fishing for snappers with some extra sperring and snapper filets i had.
well, i ended up catching about a dozen of these guys about 6-10"and a dozen snappers mixed up with each other.
what is this fish? i was told they are juvenile amberjack. really? do they always show up here in the bays? i have seen pilotfish in with the snappers and this is no pilot. there were also a couple other jacks just like the "amberjack" but slightly less yellow, more silvered and without the black spot on the gill plate. i fugured these were blue runners, but i have no idea what the other ones were. heres a pic and ill post a couple more. they were a little more slablike than the snappers, a bit thicker, and fought pretty good. they also hung out a couple feet deeper in the water column than the snappers.

any ideas folks?

 

[newyorkcityman]

another pic

?

 

[newyorkcityman]

???

better view of the mouth

 

[617467]

butter fish

 

[MakoMatt]

butter

 

[emilyrose]

thats a baby jack

 

[wader]

Looks like a butterfish to me. Good tuna bait.......

 

[newyorkcityman]

i dont think this was a butterfish, ive seen them and was catching these guys with a friend who uses butterfish for tuna bait. these were not butterfish.
yellow fins and tail. black spot on gillplate. head not as "pompanolike" as a butterfish.
also, i kept 1 or 2 for bait and in the bucket they turned dark yellow with black bands, and after fileting one i saw that the meat was dark red.

 

[619058]

NO BUTTER!

the caudal peduncle looks like something from the jack family but the mouth doesnt look strong enough. maybe cause its a baby?

 

[623677]

Might be a leatherback. I've caught them in the keys, shallow water with a little chum. Terrible bait down there.....

 

[nightwing34]

looks almost like a baby crevalle jack to me, especially in the pic where you're holding it up...the shape of the body, head, fins, and especially the tail all are right for a crevalle...it also looks like those bony scales that the crevalles have just forward of the actual anal fin are starting to develop....plus you've also got the black spot on the gill cover....

 

[newyorkcityman]

possible answer

well, i submitted this question to a guy who runs a fish ID website at http://www.thejump.net/id/id.htm and he responded with this>>

"The fish in the photo look like Blue Runner or hardtails!
Family Carangidae, Jacks and Pompanos
Caranx crysos
100% sure it is not a Jack Crevalle or a Amberjack, rudderfish or butterfish! Blue Runners can vary in color as you saw in the bucket. The fish in the photo look exactly like blue runners to me.The size, coloration, fins and black spot on the gill plate, lack of dark band thru the eye, and lack of black blotch on the pectoral fin all point to blue runner to me."

not sure if that settles it or what. but im only about 50% convinced

 

[Gamakatsu]

It's a baby blue runner. I'm 100% on this one. I've used enough of those suckers for snook bait down in Florida to sink a boat...

Gamakatsu

 

[620435]

I agree 100% blue runner.Just caught one last week

 

[newyorkcityman]

Caranx crysos

well guys, thanx for everything. the mystery fish has a name! Caranx crysos is the winner by popular vote. and thanx for posting those pix prblmsslvd. BTW a great site for fishpix and IDing is www.fishbase.org very in depth stuff.

 

[togmaster]

It's a baby Jack

The fish is not a butter fish it has small finlet in the rear so rule that out. It is either a blue runner or a baby jack.