Bonaire Fish Identification

Note: There is an updated version of this video at:
• Bonaire Fish Identific...
This is the same video as our 2016 Bonaire Highlights, but we have attempted to label all the fish (and other critters) we could identify. Please let me know if you find any mistakes.
Here is a list of fish identified in the video:
smallmouth grunt, french grunt, sharptail eel, spotted drum, great barracuda, caribbean reef octopus, blue striped drum, sergeant major, french angelfish, green moray, spotted moray, fairy basslet, porcupine fish, longsnout seahorse, rainbow parrotfish, banded coral shrimp, stoplight parrotfish, caribbean reef squid, whitespotted filefish, lionfish, yellowhead wrasse, honeycomb filefish, rock beauty, highhat, blackbarred soldierfish, trumpetfish, yellow goatfish, caesar grunt, smooth trunkfish, mahogany snapper, foureye butterflyfish, blue tang, brown garden eel, tiger grouper, palometa, green sea turtle, tarpon, schoolmaster, surgeonfish, queen angelfish, spotted scorpionfish, caribbean lobster, staghorn coral, black margate, goldentail moray, brown chromis, smallmouth grunt.

[@jlmjkooj]

At 1:38, the Sargeant Majors are guarding eggs, which are in the big purple, diamond shaped patch on the nearly vertical surface behind them!

[@paisleykitty7]

Great video. I watch the live underwater cams all the time and this was an awesome learning tool to identify what I see. Thank you!

[@mikeramsey9747]

spectacular videography and identifying the fish for us was awesome.

[@Japapelosubmundo]

Bonaire is a great place for diving!!! I have been there twice and I would like to come back. A place where you can dive many times a day, cook with your friends, very cool!

[@dominiek1525]

Nice video. There is a Graysby comming from the left right at the end of the Goldentail Moray sequence (check black dots under dorsal fin)

[@timlesniak01]

Wow, great catch! I learned a new fish today 🙂

[@rickthibodeau9172]

This is wonderful! Thank you for taking the time to identify the fish. We are planning a trip next Spring, this will help to give us an idea of what we're seeing.

[@timlesniak01]

Thank you for the comment. Making this video was our way of trying to learn as many fish as we could, at least the most common ones. I linked another video in the description with some corrections and other fish that were noticed by other viewers.

[@rickthibodeau9172]

@@timlesniak01 awesome thanks

[@jlmjkooj]

Thanks for the great video. I enjoyed going along with you, pausing the video, and trying to name all the fish in the foreground and background. I learned a couple new ones, too.

[@timlesniak01]

Thank you. It's always nice to hear when someone enjoys our dive videos. We put it together so that we could learn the fish!

[@paulotamassia3549]

Conheci Bonaire em 2016. Lugar maravilhoso.

[@chisaquaticvibe6524]

Fish are amazing!

[@laurawalsh2435]

WOW! How many dives did it take to get beautiful footage of so many creatures? Love the reef squid. And porcupines are a special fave. They’re the like the puppies of the ocean. Thank you for sharing. ❤

[@timlesniak01]

Thank you for your comment!

[@JackPatrick-eh8dn]

This is wonderful! What a great way to learn to identify the Caribbean Fish. Now what about all that coral?

[@timlesniak01]

We'll work on it next time we're back diving Bonaire 😀

[@mayrakopjansen2814]

AWESOME VIDEO

[@PietVergoossen]

Very nice video.

[@michaelross7988]

Awesome Vid !!

[@Manumanunitomidri]

nice video............thank you.......

[@kikiqi7613]

Sooo pretty. This is heaven

[@laurambruno]

Beautiful video - what camera and settings?

[@timlesniak01]

Hello Laura. The camera was a GoPro Hero 3+ Black and I recorded at 1080p. The only setting I varied was the frame rate. The first half or so was recorded at 30p. At some point I figured out that 60p would also work and I recorded the rest at 60p. I also used an orange color correction filter that fit over the camera housing and a GoPole to get into the nooks and crannies of the reef.

[@laurambruno]

Tim Lesniak thanks - i am harding tô Cayman brac next week for 7 days with a new GoPro:)

[@timlesniak01]

If you plan on diving under 20 ft or so you'll want to have some kind of color correction filter. It's not really necessary in shallow water (snorkeling). The local dive shops should know which type of filter to use for the local water. Have fun!

[@robhoekstra9166]

Great video. Makes me wanna go tomorrow, butt I will have to wait to october.

[@timlesniak01]

You will love it. Bonaire is amazing!

[@robhoekstra9166]

@@timlesniak01 I'm allready in love with Bonaire. My first visit was in 2002. And I am so happy to be able to go every couple of years!

[@kwgm8578]

I suppose by now that you've been told that the Trunkfish at 13:30 looked a lot like a honeycomb cowfish, ànd the Stoplight PF at the end was probably a Queen PF. There may have been another mistake or two, but I liked t he concept and I hope that you'll do another.

[@timlesniak01]

Thanks for the observations and for challenging me to look these fish up again! I'm not an expert, but I think in at least these two circumstances I correctly identified the fish. The smooth trunkfish does look a lot like a cowfish shape (and I'm guessing by shape they're closely related), but the pattern of dots are more trunkfish. As for the stoplight parrotfish, the thing that stands out to me are the bright colors on the tail. If you look this the stoplight pf up on wikipedia the photo shows the same tail pattern. I couldn't find photos of a queen pf that have that tail pattern. BTW, soon after I posted this video, I did get a bunch of corrections and additions. I posted a second video (linked in the description) that has the additional info.

[@kwgm8578]

@Tim Lesniak Hi Tim. It's very nice of you to reply so quickly. About the trunkfish or cowfish (they're related, I believe) the coloring is very much like the trunkfish, and that's What I thought until the end of the clip when he turned and I thought I saw the honeycomb pattern. As for the parrot fish, it was also the coloration, but today see exactly what you mean about the tail, so I'm going to withdraw my statement. Also, you had eyeballs on it, and that's far superior to looking at a video. Allow me to share the website I use for reference: reefguide.org/carib/index6.html. Again, thanks for this beautiful and informative video. I used to dive regularly and have taken three trips to Bonaire (and Aruba) before all the coral bleaching. But I am now too old and disabled to manage it, so, I dive by proxy with these videos thanks to folks like you. 👏 Best wishes, Tim. 👌

[@timlesniak01]

@@kwgm8578 You are too kind. Bonaire is a special place. Let me turn you on to a KZbin channel that I've been watching lately. The videos (much better than mine) are from a couple that lives and dives on Bonaire. They cover a lot of dive sites and they really know their fish! Maybe it will bring back some good memories. Take care. kzbin.info/door/fJfJ0aCS8erHggMnk_-kJg

[@freedivermin]

파랑물고기들 너무 예뻐요

[@dennispratt3344]

Hello from the uk could you put me onto somone who could identifi a small fish caught in cuban waters please ? were i could send a photo, great video, thanks

[@timlesniak01]

I don’t know a particular person who can help you, but the book I find most helpful is “Reef Fish Identification - Florida Caribbean Bahamas” by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach. I hope this helps.

[@arm8636]

Hello !it it didn t help you,i d avise you to download google Lens,in playstore,and then scan the picture.it works very often

[@badhombre6621]

Very nice. Was this all one dive or several? 🤔

[@timlesniak01]

No, this was not one dive. We typically go to Bonaire for a week and get in somewhere between 18 to 20 dives. However, for this video I may have combined a couple years worth of recordings. My wife and I put it together to try to get better at identifying the fish you typically see on Bonaire. We also wanted an introduction to identification for new divers in our group.

[@underpressurespurdog6605]

Its Bluestriped Grunt not Drum, Blackbar (not barred) Soldierfish, 12:40ish Trumpetfish (all one word), At 17ish there is at least one Doctorfish (body bars) mixed in with the Blue Tang and Ocean Surgeonfish...nice vid

[@timlesniak01]

Thank you for the corrections!

[@biloz2988]

You missed mentioning the parrotfish in your list at the end of the description

[@timlesniak01]

I mentioned the Trumpetfish and the Stoplight Parrotfish at 21:19 in the video. Did I miss one? One of the cool things about Bonaire is the variety of parrotfish species. Some of them are huge!

[@biloz2988]

@@timlesniak01 - maybe but repetition of the name helps with the identification. The updated video also does not mention it at the end. Another comment is that the name is shown extremely briefly which by the time one tries to read the name he misses the fish and vice versa

[@timlesniak01]

@@biloz2988 Thanks for the feedback

[@ehteshamshareef4170]

@@timlesniak01 :

[@ehteshamshareef4170]

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