An Odd Catch!

As if some of the critters I find on the Bayou are not strange enough, occasionally I come across something that is so out of place that it causes a bit of a stir.  Mullet were out in droves the other day so Mark headed out to get a mess for our lunch and a few extra to give to other folks.  It is a common practice of most true Biloxi folks to share the mullet or "Biloxi Bacon" that they catch.  This seems to make the fish taste all the better!  When there is a mass run of the fish, hundreds are caught and cleaned then given to those who are unable to go fishing themselves.  Mark will catch a bunch, he and I will clean and bag the slabs of fish and then most are given away.  It is just a Biloxi thing!  Anyway, he was out throwing the net when suddenly he caught two fish that were not recognizable.  We discussed the matter and took a few pictures to use as reference then tossed the fish back into the water.   I did a quick search on the internet to see if I could identify the fish. To me, the fish looked a lot like a Pompano but something was a mite off about the fins.  Our fish had yellow fins..the Pompano did not.  Plus the shape was just not the same.  The search was not helping so I sent the picture to one of Son's friends.  This young man runs his family's local bait shop and he has a lot of knowledge about fish.  Whenever I am in doubt about the identity of a sea critter, I call on Taylor!

Two days went by before I heard back from Michael's friend and when the reply came, it was not much help!  To quote Taylor, my local fish expert, "Ok, this one was tough!"  He gave me several leads to check against the pictures and our memories.  Again..close but no cigar!  None were an exact match!  I was just about to declare our unknown fish as a freak of nature when suddenly, at the bottom of one page,  I spied a name..."Butterfish"!  Just out of curiosity, I researched Butterfish and the mystery was solved!  There as clear as a bell, was our fish!  A Butterfish!  Only problem with this..there are seventeen different Butterfishes!  Go figure!  Taylor believes that our fishy is either a Chinese Pomfret or a Japanese Butterfish..both are types of Butterfish.  Again out of curiosity, I peeked to see if Butterfish are related to Pompanos..yep, sort of like distant cousins!  Now came the conundrum..why was this fish all the way up in the Bay! The article claimed that these fish stay offshore a bit and don't venture up in the brackish waters of bays and bayous.  Taylor and I discussed the matter a bit further and neither of us had an answer.  It does seem that this fish is a mite off course of where it belongs.  Are there more Butterfish in the Bay?  Did a storm throw them off course?  Did these just get caught up in a school of mullet that were migrating into the Bay from the Gulf of Mexico?  I suppose we will never have all of the answers but at least we know a bit more about these strange visitors to the Bayou area.  Butterfish..just imagine!