strange fish id?

I saw very unusual school of fish of the west coast of Ireland last
weekend. I've never seen anything like them in the generally cold
waters around Ireland.

Each was an almost completely circular shape - about 10" or so
in diameter but when they turned to face you straight on they were
very thin - only an inch thick maybe. They had a small downturned
mouth with very thick lips and a strange rippling type of finning
action. The light wasn't great but there seemed to be a reddish
brown tinge to the gray. There was about 20 or 30 of them
"schooling" around a piece of reef as if they'd been transplanted
from the tropics.

Any ideas of what these could have been? Neither my buddy nor
anyone else I've described them to has had any idea.

"Green Dog" <derrizanile@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1158610594.290798.162370@i42g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>I saw very unusual school of fish of the west coast of Ireland last
> weekend. I've never seen anything like them in the generally cold
> waters around Ireland.
>
> Each was an almost completely circular shape - about 10" or so
> in diameter but when they turned to face you straight on they were
> very thin - only an inch thick maybe. They had a small downturned
> mouth with very thick lips and a strange rippling type of finning
> action. The light wasn't great but there seemed to be a reddish
> brown tinge to the gray. There was about 20 or 30 of them
> "schooling" around a piece of reef as if they'd been transplanted
> from the tropics.
>
> Any ideas of what these could have been? Neither my buddy nor
> anyone else I've described them to has had any idea.

Piranha ?

Lee

Sounds like either:

(a) John Dory - though I have never seen them schooling;

(b) Sunfish - ditto;

(c) Trevally - unusual in these waters.

What were the fins like? Short, running the full length of the back,
one dorsal fin pointed or regular, tailfin (caudal) forked/regular???
Any body markings stand out?

Seadeuce

On 2006-09-18, Seadeuce <seadeuce@oceanfree.net> wrote:
> Sounds like either:
>
> (a) John Dory - though I have never seen them schooling;

I'd agree with that.

> (b) Sunfish - ditto;

That's unlikely - even a baby mola mola is a lot bigger than
10" in diameter.

> (c) Trevally - unusual in these waters.

I think that's unlikely as well. The other possibility that springs
to my mind is Ocean Triggerfish.

--
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Pete Young wrote:
> I think that's unlikely as well. The other possibility that springs
> to my mind is Ocean Triggerfish.

Bingo! Well nearly - they were Gray Triggerfish (picture here -
http://www.ncfisheries.net/fishfind/offshor4.htm). I would have
said you'd gotten it with Ocean Triggerfish on first glance but
they haven't the lips. There is a good discussion on this
webside - http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Triggerf.htm - where
apparently they aren't uncommon around Britain and Ireland when
the water is warm.

Cheers,
GD.