Fish of Queensland's Journal

Good morning fellow fish observers
In celebration of World Ocean Day 2024 we are facilitating a Reef Blitz between 1 and 8 June.
https://worldoceanday.org/event/reef-blitz-2024/

We have organised similar events in 2022 and 2023 and you can see the great results on iNaturalist with over 2000 observations of 621 species- https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/reefblitz-queensland-2023

The aim is to take photos of marine life such as fish, corals, molluscs along the Queensland coastline.
It would be fantastic if you could participate by making some observations and identifications during this period.

The real joy is to introduce a new person, particularly your family, student, scientists, artist or traditional owner to iNaturalist. Perhaps start with a beach walk or a fishing trip.

I look forward to seeing your observations and then sharing the results and impacts of the project
Any assistance or feedback appreciated on what will encourage you to be involved during this week
Best fishes
Adam

You are welcome to join an online discussion about fish, iNaturlaist and report cards this afternoon at 6pm

REMINDER- online zoom presentation and discussion REEF CONVERSATIONS FISH at 6pm today. Zoom link here https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87369199425?pwd=Y054TTFrN3o4N0x2MmpPUXBiYk9ZQT09&fbclid=IwAR3wLUztNTL1Vn-tkiognDeemzqHz6BklV3bHZMobq2EqVwCCT8hnQk521A#success

We will also record and post a link online

Good morning fellow fish observers
In celebration of World Ocean Day 2023 we are facilitating a Reef Blitz between 1 and 8 June.
The aim is to take photos of marine life such as fish, corals, molluscs along the Queensland coastline.
It would be fantastic if you could participate by making some observations and identifications during this period.
You may also wish to try and take some fish photos from a walk. For example I photographed a Great barracuda and Spotted Archerfish in the Breakwater marina. I also asked a fisherman if I could photograph his catch from a cast net and added a Snubnose garfish.
The real joy is to introduce a new person, particularly your family, student, scientists, artist or traditional owner to iNaturalist. Perhaps start with a beach walk or a fishing trip.
We are at 151 observations of 84 species by 16 observers and 23 identifiers
I look forward to seeing your observations and then sharing the results and impacts of the project
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/reefblitz-2023
Best fishes
Adam

Amazing that the 38,000th observation is a Bonefish- which is a new species observation for this project. This fish was caught in the Woppaburra (Keppel) Island TUMRA region. Reported to me by a traditional owner. I requested that the fish is frozen if it is of interest to science or museums. Please contact Meaghan, tumrachair@woppaburra.com.au, 0499399208

We have a new most observed fish species for the Fish of Queensland project.

The lemon damsel Pomacentrus moluccensis is a species of bony fish in the family Pomacentridae, from the Western Pacific Ocean. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 9 cm (4 in) in length.

The lemon damsel has been observed 320 times by iNaturalists in Queensland and interestingly and confusing is only 242 observations of this species in the Australian Fishes project. Therefore there are many state observations that are not also recorded to the larger project. @markmcg @joseph_dibattista
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations?place_id=6744&project_id=9358&subview=map&taxon_id=181028

Where is it found? Pomacentrus moluccensis is native to the tropical western Pacific Ocean. Its range extends from about 32°N to 32°S, and 92°E to 173°W. It is found down to about 14 m (46 ft) in clear-water lagoons and in reefs with branching corals to provide hiding places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomacentrus_moluccensis
Have you seen it deeper than 14 metres.
I have seen it at 18m at John Brewer Reef

This project now has 37,969 observations of 1,452 species by 1,586 observers and 1,022 identifiers. It is interesting that there are more observers than identifiers in Queensland as it is more even numbers \ ratio nationally.

Top observers are @adam_smith3 @nigelmarsh and @fubberpish and top identifiers are @maractwin @jeffwj and @sascha_schulz

The Scissortail sergeant or stripe-tailed damselfish (Abudefduf sexfasciatus) named by Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède (or Lacepede) in 1801 is a large damselfish. It earns its name from the black-striped tail and sides, which are reminiscent of the insignia of a military Sergeant, being similar to those of the sergeant major damselfish. It grows to a length of about 15-19 centimetres. Can be territorial to other fishes

The second most observed fish species is the Sixband parrotfish and the third most observed is the Common coral trout on iNaturalist Fishes of Queensland group

This is big in scale covering the southern hemisphere and short in time at just four days
Participants can take pictures from 28-31 October, and then have from 1-14 November to upload them to iNaturalist.
https://www.greatsouthernbioblitz.org/about-1

We are helping GSBB facilitate observations of marine life in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Reef Ecologic is encouraging everyone who lives in or visits the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to capture pictures of wildlife you see on walks, snorkels, fishing trips or dives and upload them to iNaturalist.org. If you live further afield or can't make it out, you can still participate from home by helping to identify the wildlife in the observations!

Details of the project can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-great-barrier-reef

And here is a link to a training video we made for a previous event that can help acquaint you with iNaturalist if you haven't used it before: https://youtu.be/2aAeBGkDY8Y

This app has helped us greatly in learning more about the creatures we see and this event is a great excuse to get outdoors. We hope to see your observations and posts during the Bioblitz!

This is big in scale covering the southern hemisphere and short in time at just four days
Participants can take pictures from 28-31 October, and then have from 1-14 November to upload them to iNaturalist.
https://www.greatsouthernbioblitz.org/about-1

We are helping GSBB facilitate observations of marine life in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Reef Ecologic is encouraging everyone who lives in or visits the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to capture pictures of wildlife you see on walks, snorkels, fishing trips or dives and upload them to iNaturalist.org. If you live further afield or can't make it out, you can still participate from home by helping to identify the wildlife in the observations!

Details of the project can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-great-barrier-reef

And here is a link to a training video we made for a previous event that can help acquaint you with iNaturalist if you haven't used it before: https://youtu.be/2aAeBGkDY8Y

This app has helped us greatly in learning more about the creatures we see and this event is a great excuse to get outdoors. We hope to see your observations and posts during the Bioblitz!

Welcome to a new project which compiles fish from Queensland. There have been almost 30,000 observations of over 1000 species. We hope that this project will assist you with identifying fish from Queensland and also seeking out and adding new species. Best fishes Adam