Coryphaena Hippurus

[ornel]

My brother and I recently collected an awesome fish while fishing of the coast of Miami. We were collecting small shrimp in the sargassum when a fish dropped on the deck. I had never seen a fish like this and was amazed at the green and yellow color. We decided to try and get it back to the mainland to try and identify it. It turn out that it was a young (6cm) Coryphaena Hippurus (mahi mahi, dolphin). Right away I knew there was no way to keep it alive since it was a pelagic fish and a fast growing one that would need a lot of food. I took video of it everyday and was amazed at how well it was at catching live fish. The C. Hippurus only lived for 8 days (sad, I know) but it was something that I would like to show everyone. Since this experience I have been doing a lot of reading on the fish and have come to learn that it is one of the fastest growing fish in the sea. The fry hatch at approximately 4 mm total length, and reach a length of 5.7 mm within four days. At 15 days, the larvae are approximately 15 mm long and reach sexual maturity in 4-5 months (20 cm). This is a fish that is found around the world and is fished very heavily. Because of the rate of growth this species is one that should be able to handle the rate at which it is captured, but reminds us about other species which are not as fortunate. I have attached a picture that is not mine but I wanted you to see what the species looks like at that size. The one I had was lighter in color (more green, less black). I will post my video as soon as I get my website up.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, cool!

I was seining in the eelgrass in NY once and captured a baby Cobia- took forever to figure out what it was...

 

[fungia]

baby fish are always so neat!