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Ok, this is going to take a little time. We just got back from our VI trip, the last four days of which we stayed at Caneel Bay on St. John. While snorkeling on Scott Beach, my wife (a basic beginner snorkeler) was freaked out by a "giant fish" she saw in the rocks. I was out a bit further off the beach (keeping a CLOSE eye on her) so I didn't see it. She said that what was scary about the fish was the fact that it "had a face". Ok, thinks me, she must have seen a grouper. Or an eel. Or a boxfish or a trunkfish or whatever. Cool.
That was Sunday. On Monday we went back to Scott for more snorkel fun. This time I entered the water on the sandy side of the beach, swam through the little baitfish schools, saw the usual parrotfish and tangs and such, and then all of a sudden back in the rocks I saw A FACE, and I'm not talking about a small face. A BIG FACE, staring back at me. I grew up in Florida, snorkeled and swam all over the Gulf and the East Coast, and I've never seen this fish before. I'll tell you what it was NOT. It was NOT a grouper. It was not an eel. Not a turtle, a ray, a shark, an octopus, a conch shell, a skate, a rockfish, a rock, coral, man-made object, tire, mooring point stuck in the rocks, somebody's cooler or swim fin, beach ball, swimming trunks, manta, cowfish, urchin or anything along those lines. It was a FISH. A mighty LARGE fish, with a big FACE on it. I'm talking a square face with two unblinking eyes and a beak-type mouth. No discernible gills, although I'm sure it had them. The fish was box shaped, but I've never seen a boxfish or trunkfish NEARLY that large. Not even close.
I let my wife know that "I saw your monster fish and I have no idea what it is, but I know why it freaked you out". She took a look and confirmed that it was the same one she saw, in the same place the day before. We laughed and swam towards Turtle Point just about 10-15 feet, and there was another one of these fish. This one wasn't backed into the rocks, it was in a little clear area, and you could see the whole thing. The "face" on this fish was about 1/3 smaller than the first fish, and by moving around a little we could see the entire fish. Yup, it's a fish, fins and all. It's definitely a boxy fish, and this smaller one was a minimum of 2 1/2 feet long, We were close enough that this estimation wasn't due to water refraction or something, it was a decent-sized fish. Judging from this smaller one, I'd have to say that the BIG one had to be well over 3 feet, at a minimum.
If anyone can hazard a guess, please do. If you're there, the thing is probably still living in the same place. Enter the water before the ledge rocks start on the right side of the beach; and just stay in the shallows there peering into the ledges. It should be maybe 50 feet into the swim, maybe a little further, and if it's peering out of the rocks with those eyes and mouth you ain't gonna miss it. One of the bartenders at Caneel said that he thought it was what they call a "shell fish" and they're prized for their meat. He got the boxy shape right, but I Googled that every way I know how and it just comes up with regular shellfish like lobster, crab, etc.
And of course, I didn't have an underwater camera. DOH!
Thanks,
Steve
Is this the face?
Nope. WAY too small, and my fish had no horns like a cowfish, more of a bony beak and the eyes were not set on the side of the head. They were set in front, much more like a person's face. Think more along the lines of HUGE puffer fish. Thanks for the pic though!
More like this one?
Yeah, more like that. But I'm not kidding about the size, I'm absolutely serious when I say that this view (the one you posted) would have to be about 8" between the eyes. Don't forget the boxy shape, either. How freaking big can these things get? Have you ever heard of the "shell fish" that the bartender mentioned? I've been looking all over the internet and I'm about to either give up or book a trip down there next week just to get a picture. Thanks!!
The local term "shell fish" refers to box fish which in the wild can grow to about 20" in length. What color was this monster fish?
Do those things bite or are they aggressive at all?
parkit wrote:
Yeah, more like that. But I'm not kidding about the size, I'm absolutely serious when I say that this view (the one you posted) would have to be about 8" between the eyes. Don't forget the boxy shape, either. How freaking big can these things get? Have you ever heard of the "shell fish" that the bartender mentioned? I've been looking all over the internet and I'm about to either give up or book a trip down there next week just to get a picture. Thanks!!
It could be a boxfish a/k/a trunkfish which have an exoskeleton and are quite delicious or possibly pufferfish (don't reccommend eating) which get larger than the average trunk fish so more space between the eys.
Here's a link for all types of trunkfish
Probably worth booking a trip back down to see if you can catch a better photo of "Bigface" the mysterious monster of STJ.
exit zero wrote:
More like this one?
Such a cutie! Could not possibly be mistaken for a mysterious monster fish!
Come on, Parkit, tell us exactly how many rum and cokes or pina coladas, did you have prior to going snorkling?
The mystery monster fish shall await your return.
Well as to the number of drinks with cherries in them, we had probably downed a couple each BUT they were the typical resort-strength drinks. In other words, we hadn't added any rum from the free bottle of Cruzan in the room, which is practically a necessity in that situation. Seriously, we weren't even close to impaired in any way or we wouldn't have been snorkeling.
The color of the big one I don't know, it stayed in the rocks and only the face was showing. The smaller one further on down the line was a nice blue color, but not marbled. Kind of an opaque blue. I'm glad we saw the second one, just so that we knew for sure that it was actually a fish and not some ET from Vega Six hiding out and waiting for his ride home. I've seen lots of box and cow fish, this one we're talking about would have to have come from Bikini Atoll after the atomic blast to have been a box fish. I do understand that trunk fish are larger versions, and I'm not ruling that out, but it would still have been a freak of nature to be THAT large.
I'm going to continue Googling and will concentrate on puffer fish.............. hold the phone, my wife just FOUND it !!!!
Go to snorkelstj.com, click on identification gallery. Click on Reef Fish, scroll down to Odd Shaped Swimmers. On the second line in the middle, THAT'S the fish we saw and it is indeed a Trunkfish (Buffalofish). That picture looks exactly like the second smaller fish we saw! However, some of the other pics on other websites showing smooth trunkfish or boxfish look just like the "regular" boxfish and trunkfish we saw out on the reefs. And they all look quite small; very VERY much smaller than "BigFace" under the rock ledge on Scott. (This website, snorkelstj.com, also has a nice picture of bearded fireworm, I saw one of those while snorkeling off Honeymoon Beach!)
Thank you EVERYBODY for your help!! We had a great time in the VI and everyone was absolutely terrific, so I want to thank everyone here also who has been so kind and helpful with responses to my question. Thank you and "have a good evening"!
