Fish ID Needed

[outdoordan]

Can anyone ID this fish. It was part of the gut contents of my last jew. It looks a bit leatherjackety but i'm unsure.

Ta..

[Jewhunter]

Yeah, looks like a fantail leathery to me mate.

Just shows what weird things jew will eat!

Cheers,

Grant.

[Trapper Tom]

Hey Outdoor.

Yeah initailly looks like a Fantail leathery and would maybe call it for that, but the spike is too high up on its back and the mouth is too big.

Was the spike a leathery defensive spike or was it just the remanets of a dorsal fin.

If it was the remanets I will throw it out there and say maybe a juvinile John Dory.

Damn hard though being half digested.

Cheers

Trapper Tom

[JimT]

with a large eye and mouth looks more like a dory

Jim...

[Yowie]

Does not look like any of the dories that I know of, and that includes the ugly Spiky Dory.

Also considered a Boarfish, but not that either.

It does look very much like an Old Wife, Enoplosus armatus. Have caught the occasional one in Port Hacking.

Yowie.

[finin]

Agree with yowie, imho through my experience it is an old wife, yes the large spine is the remanents of the dorsals, Spine is actually first dorsal. Bastard of a thing to handle as there are also a number of small spines on the gill covers and they are sharp!