Peacock Flounder

[wailua boy]

Aloha Ohana,
Here's a quick pic of a decent sized peacock flounder caught while shore casting that was caught and released. They are a some what unusual catch in my region. They are known to test positive for ciguatera fairly regularly. Tight lines...

[Steve-O]

Very cool flatfish! Kinda odd that its eyes are that far apart in that species whereas flounders and soles I'm familiar with have much closer spaced eyes.

Thanks for sharing.

[Gfish]

Cool! A tropical flounder. I've seen a couple of flatfish while snorkling on Kaua'i, , mabey the same species?

[nelz]

Odd looking critter, even for a flatfish, with those eyes. Didn't know ciguaterra was found around Hawaii.

[conchydong]

Nice oddball catch. We have Peacocks (Bothus Lunatus) in South Florida mostly around the reefs and are very rarely caught on hook and line. I see them diving but have never actually caught one and I consider them too small to spear. Add that to your list of species caught.
Best to you.

Scott

[Bryan Young]

I've only caught one in my life and it was half bitten off when I was reeling it in.  I believe I was fishing near Kalae'O'lo Beach Park.  I wanted to catch more because they were tasty.  Wasn't aware of the ciguatera issues.  well, I'm still alive.

[Benni3]

Blue berry pancake fish,,,,, love it,,,,,,,that's a cool looking fish,,,every blue moon I catch a log perch or find a candy darter it is a kick,,,,great job,,,,,

[Ron Jones]

I used to see them at the rock pile in Waianae. Don't remember seeing anyone catch one.
The Man

[Dominick]

I had not heard of ciquatera, so I Googled it.  Apparently it is possible that the toxin can be in any reef fish.  Dominick

[oc1]

I had not heard of ciquatera, so I Googled it.  Apparently it is possible that the toxin can be in any reef fish.  Dominick

It's always a crap shoot.  Some species and some spots are worse than others and some people are more cavalier about it than others.  There are field test kits now but they do not work very well.

There is an intentionally introduced little grouper here called Roi (Peacock Grouper elsewhere).  Bringing them in sounded like a good idea in the 1950's.  It's a pretty chocolate brown with iridescent blue spots and they readily take a loud gaudy popper.  They are now considered a pest that eats a lot of native reef fish.  The recommendation is to kill them but do not eat them because of a high incidence of Ciguatera.  But, my God, they look delicious.  A two-serving grouper.  I've resisted so far.
https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/coris/library/NOAA/CRCP/other/grants/NA10NOS4100062/10_FISHTALK_Roi.pdf
-steve

[nelz]

Interesting, here in Florida, ciguatera is also a concern, but mostly in larger reef fish, especially the bigger barracuda. I've eaten small cuda's safely (delicious). From what I hear, ROI is a small fish right? I guess Hawaii must have the toxic algae (that causes it) in very high concentrations. Btw, the very deep reefs do not produce the this algea. I believe it grows only to around 100' or less, not sure exactly.

[Gfish]

I had not heard of ciquatera, so I Googled it.  Apparently it is possible that the toxin can be in any reef fish.  Dominick

It's always a crap shoot.  Some species and some spots are worse than others and some people are more cavalier about it than others.  There are field test kits now but they do not work very well.

There is an intentionally introduced little grouper here called Roi (Peacock Grouper elsewhere).  Bringing them in sounded like a good idea in the 1950's.  It's a pretty chocolate brown with iridescent blue spots and they readily take a loud gaudy popper.  They are now considered a pest that eats a lot of native reef fish.  The recommendation is to kill them but do not eat them because of a high incidence of Ciguatera.  But, my God, they look delicious.  A two-serving grouper.  I've resisted so far.
https://data.nodc.noaa.gov/coris/library/NOAA/CRCP/other/grants/NA10NOS4100062/10_FISHTALK_Roi.pdf
-steve

These guys hit pretty hard, fight hard for about 10 sec., then kinda give up. The 1st one I got, my wife was excited: "Oh, getting more! They are costing much in Taiwan markets!". So I ate a few of 'em before I found out about the ciguatera. No ill effects. I heard it's supposed to build up over time with chronic consumption. They did taste real good, but now they're garden fertailizer. They have many rows of spikey long teeth and their aggressiveness probably does indeed make them a reef pest.

[nelz]

Yes it builds up over time, but in the fish. That's why bigger fish are the riskier ones.

[oc1]

These guys hit pretty hard, fight hard for about 10 sec., then kinda give up. The 1st one I got, my wife was excited: "Oh, getting more! They are costing much in Taiwan markets!". So I ate a few of 'em before I found out about the ciguatera. No ill effects. I heard it's supposed to build up over time with chronic consumption. They did taste real good, but now they're garden fertailizer. They have many rows of spikey long teeth and their aggressiveness probably does indeed make them a reef pest.

For me, the first thing they do is dive into hole with my precious plug.

In the live market those little guys might fetch forty or fifty bucks each.  They're trying to farm them in cages.

-steve

[Benni3]

These guys hit pretty hard, fight hard for about 10 sec., then kinda give up. The 1st one I got, my wife was excited: "Oh, getting more! They are costing much in Taiwan markets!". So I ate a few of 'em before I found out about the ciguatera. No ill effects. I heard it's supposed to build up over time with chronic consumption. They did taste real good, but now they're garden fertailizer. They have many rows of spikey long teeth and their aggressiveness probably does indeed make them a reef pest.

For me, the first thing they do is dive into hole with my precious plug.

In the live market those little guys might fetch forty or fifty bucks each.  They're trying to farm them in cages.

-steve

yes my friend,,,,,cage them,,,,