Friday, February 24, 2006

A Friday Puzzler




???













Here's a Friday puzzler for you.

What in the world is that thing?

It's being held by a few cropped and anonymous ex-students of mine on a fieldtrip to Cedar Key. (That was a vague and mostly useless clue)

Update with answer coming later this evening.


UPDATE TO THE PUZZLER: ...AND THE ANSWER IS.....JEEZ, I WAS JUST GOING FOR BATFISH, BUT THEN YOU NERDS STARTING BANDYING ABOUT "POLKA DOT" AND "SHORT NOSED" ....THIS PHOTO IS TWO YEARS OLD AND THE ANGLE ISN'T GREAT FOR CHECKING THE FINS FOR POLKADOTS. MY UF FISH SITE SAYS THE POLKA DOT BATFISH IS RARE...THESE GUYS ARE VERY COMMON AT CEDAR KEY...I'M LEANING TOWARDS SHORTNOSE, BUT IT IS DEFINITELY A NICE LITTLE BATFISH. WE DID RETURN HIM TO THE SEA AND HE HOPPED AWAY. THAT'S RIGHT, HE HOPPED AWAY. SLOWLY. YOU CAN WALK UP TO A BATFISH AND PICK HIM UP.

I THINK WAYNE GETS THE 'FIRSTEST WITH THE MOSTEST AWARD ON THIS PUZZLER. GOOD BACKUP FROM THE REST OF THE ICHTHYOLOGISTS WHO COMMENTED.

DYNAMIC DUO = BATFISH AND SEA ROBIN... I need a sea robin pic.

THANKS FOR PLAYING!Posted by Picasa

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

My guess: it's some kind of fish. I want a prize if I'm correct!

Thunder said...

I think it's a dried up toad fish!

Remind me never to accept "Beef jerky" from you!

Anonymous said...

Batfish! (Or, as I tell my students with regard to pronunciation only: speak with authority and they'll never question you.)

Anonymous said...

Maybe even a polka-dot batfish!

Do I get any crackerpoints for that?

Deb said...

I'm with everyone so far; some variety of Pisciformes that I don't have here in Minnesota.

doubleknot said...

It is a fish and I have caught them but I will be darn if I can remember the name.

robin andrea said...

I'm going to agree with the smart ones who have answered here already. It's a batfish. I feel like I'm cheating, but I read their answers and I did not have one of my own.

Anonymous said...

Hey, RD - only *one* person answered "batfish". I want them crackerpoints!
:-)

Anonymous said...

It sort of looks like a Sea Robin. The head is a little flatter though. I've caught a few of them over here in the river. They have a real hard, bony head. Some get a lot bigger than the one in the picture.

Toadfish have a rounder head and big mouth. I don't know about a bat fish.

Anonymous said...

Whew - for just a brief moment I thought Kevin might have scooped me, but no, those crackpoints are mine!

Batfish!

OldHorsetailSnake said...

A mutant rockfish? A baby coelecanth? A radiated mudskipper? A piece of bark from the Yum Yum Tree? I give.

The MacBean Gene said...

Are they ex-students beause it ate them? It's a fish, that was easy!

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

It's a short-nosed batfish (Ogcocephalus nasutos).

I can't see it very clearly in your picture, but if the pectoral fins are polkadotted, then it's a batfish.

And if the fins are plain, then it's the shornose batfish.

Anonymous said...

I think batfish wins. I've never seen one, but thanks to you and google I have. The sea robin's head is longer and more narrow. Whomever identified first, good eye.

Anonymous said...

i think this fish is a puffer fish tmart

Anonymous said...

dadadadadadadada dadadadadadad
Batfish!

Who knows. I was wrong about the fiddler crabs!

Anonymous said...

Really, DPR - you know very well that FC's slumming over at the Bums while everyone here is sweating bullets trying to figure out his puzzle.

benning said...

All I was goona say was "fish". LOL

Well, it looks like a really ugly fish. ; )

R.Powers said...

Hey Y'all,
Since I updated with the answer, I'm doing a "blanky thanky" as the Pirate would say.

I want you to know, it was a busy day and I really needed the laughs from your back and forth banter...it even spilled over into that hippy blog...which probably confused a few of the Bums nonPureFlorida reading commenters.
You made my day. I thank you again.

Anonymous said...

Well it was a lot of fun - thank you!
I hope the hippies enjoyed your company.

:-)

threecollie said...

I was all set to say batfish, really I was, even before I saw the answer....despite the fact that I live WAY inland in upstate NY...unless you count the river.

R.Powers said...

Threecollie,
I believe you.

Weary Hag said...

Well, too late for the game, but I would never have known anyway.... thanks for another valuable lesson!

R.Powers said...

Weary,
Still good to hear from you even if you missed the batfish carnival.

R.Powers said...

Thing,
Foregone conclusion...I knew you knew it.