Fish ID (maybe) for Mike & Andrew
Mike (yo! Liz, get Mike to the screen!)
Could your fish have been:
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...hp?ID=7874&genusname=Pseudanthias&speciesname=bicolor
(these guys are lavender on the bottom & can look more pinky purple than the picture…)
or a:
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...hp?ID=7765&genusname=Labroides&speciesname=phthirophagus
(these guys normally show with a lot more magenta & blue than the picture & the juveniles have no yellow, & show more intense deep electric blue – cleaner wrasse that follows fish & divers around – made memorizing the genus name a little easier… like a Labrador…)
Andrew, (my bad! There are endemic lionfish!…. but they are not very common - seems like they never were & have been overfished for the aquarium trade…)
Look at the picture links for the green lionfish (more of a scorpion fish, so I kinda doubt it…):
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...hp?ID=7781&genusname=Dendrochirus&speciesname=barberi
and the Hawaiian lionfish (mostly night or under ledges & in caves & not very common, but slightly more on the Kona side):
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...hp?ID=7782&genusname=Pterois&speciesname=sphex
Also could be a juvenile form of the rockmover wrasse (only adding this ‘cause of the ‘tweener yellowtail coris Mike & I saw)…
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...hp?ID=5610&genusname=Novaculichthys&speciesname=taeniourus
Andrew... looking at the tail??? picture of your fishy, & at the tail from this picture:
http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/PicturesS...hp?ID=7782&what=species
.... Hawaiian Lionfish is probably a good match, maybe.... BTW nicely in focus, color great.... too bad the fish was in hiding...
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