Can anyone ID this please
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Diving
Forum Name: Spearo's Corner
Forum Description: Free-divers & spearos chat about their sport
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34001
Printed Date: 30 Jan 2026 at 6:25pm
Topic: Can anyone ID this please
Posted By: Besty.
Subject: Can anyone ID this please
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 3:01pm
 Found this in a small cave wile hunting for crays. The head is hard like a stargazer. Paua in its gutts. |
Replies:
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 3:05pm
| i thought it was an interesting creature. haven't noticed them before. I think it had white vertical stripes down the body. |
Posted By: CanadianJohn
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 3:09pm
| easy to identify, its my mother in law. |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 3:11pm
| beauty smile huh |
Posted By: Rusky
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 4:31pm
| Possibly a Maori chief Notothenia angustata. |
Posted By: ThomasW
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 4:40pm
Its a Sea kitten, and you killed it 
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Posted By: Rusky
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 4:45pm
| Id say its a Maori chief also known as a black cod. Where did you get it? |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 4:55pm
| MJL suggested black cod too though i haven't found pictures that match on the net. I was out around banks peninsula Sunday, when all of a sudden this mysterious creature swam flat out into my spear. Having never spotted one before I swam him back to the tin machine for further study |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 4:58pm
| yeah prob is the Notothenia angustata going by the drawings google searches produce |
Posted By: kuuni
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 4:58pm
| That looks pretty big - the Maori Chief on some sites I was looking at is only supposed to get like 40cm long? |
Posted By: Rusky
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:00pm
These are the only two coloured pics I could find.
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Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:00pm
| that was definitely 40cm. felt heavy for the size too, perhaps something about that rock like head |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:02pm
| yup thats it. pattern is the same, looks like small one? anyone eaten them? would be fun trying to find them with a small gun and torch. |
Posted By: mjl
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:03pm
| Black cod Notothenia microlepidota (I'm sure of the common name but not so much the scientific). They're meant to be a big antartic version of a blennie. Apparently not an uncommon sight to Southland slug divers. |
Posted By: Rusky
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:03pm
Mr Malcom Francis suggests more like 60cm in length.
Possible new spearfishing record if bigger then 3.4kg?
|
kuuni wrote:Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:07pm
| oh gutted, its in the river now. i'm going to get out there and smash over the record haha |
Posted By: Finatic
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:07pm
|
Having killed it, I hope you ate it! ------------- What's the cheapest type of meat? Dear balls. They're under a buck. |
Posted By: mjl
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:08pm
Whoops press refresh before posting
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Posted By: SeaCamel
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:08pm
|
Notothenia angustata
Maori chief 41.0 cm TL (male/unsexed; (Ref. http://www.fishbase.org/references/FBRefSummary.php?ID=9003 - 9003 )) http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=47001 ------------- Many a mickle makes a muckle |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:10pm
| finatic, i filleted it, was already to drop it in a curry but was not all that keen to go there without knowing what it was. |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:11pm
| bloke i work with saw one a few weekends back in the flea bay marine reserve, has a video of it. I'd think you could almost grab them or knife them |
Posted By: SeaCamel
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:12pm
------------- Many a mickle makes a muckle |
Posted By: Finatic
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:16pm
Did the cat touch it?  ------------- What's the cheapest type of meat? Dear balls. They're under a buck. |
Posted By: Rusky
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:19pm
|
If it had tattooed appearance then it is a Maori Chief Notothenia angustata, but if it appears black with no tatoos then it is the Black cod Paranotothenia magellanica. Hard to tell by picture...
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Posted By: SeaCamel
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:28pm
some people refer to marblefish as maori chiefs and according to wild blue they are not good to eat: http://www.wildblue.co.nz/fish/nontarget/marblefish/ i know of an asian spearo who allegedly shoots and eats "maori chiefs" but i'm not sure if that's the fish in the picture, a marblefish or something different alltogether. ------------- Many a mickle makes a muckle |
Posted By: herby
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:50pm
Surely there are more diagnostic characteristics than that? Sounds like you have a good book in front of ya Rusky.
I love these 'What is this?' type threads. We need more of them!
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Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:59pm
| i always thought maori chief where the orange guys you find under rocks. not as flat bodied. |
Posted By: Diver Dan
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 5:59pm
| Pretty sure it is angustata. Seen quite a few, mainly Fiordland and Stewart Island, but also right up to Marlborough. The are OK to eat - a bit bland. Much better than Marblefish!!!! That is a biggy. |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 6:03pm
| so if i found another of reasonable size, what is the record claiming process herby, you are into claiming records right? |
Posted By: Diver Dan
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 6:04pm
| Maori Chief is a generic name for any dark patterned fish that isn't a snapper or blue cod!!!! Definitely angustata - check out the eye ridges |
Posted By: Rusky
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 8:12pm
| Yea was going to mention that along with all the other characteristics to distinguish the two types. Learn something every day. |
Posted By: Diver Dan
Date Posted: 30 Oct 2008 at 9:30pm
| contact me about record claims |
Posted By: Cuzza
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2008 at 9:09am
| Hey Paul, I grew up in Akaroa, and now live in Wellington, so interested to hear you get out around Banks Peninsula, how do you get on around there? Do you get many crays? and what sort of fish do you see? Ever been out to Long Bay, Goughs, or Fishermans? Sorry for all the questions, but when i go home I usually dont even bother to take the dive gear down........ |
Posted By: Besty.
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2008 at 10:32am
|
Cuzza: I have dived most of the bays around the peninsula, all of the ones you have mentioned. By Fishermans are you referring to otanerito? I've perhaps only dived that one 7 times. Get some nice crays around there and patches of big butters. Would love to dive pompays on a clear day. Goughs I would like to get to more, can't say i'm very familiar with it, but have stopped in when everything has been dirty but there. Most of my diving is done with a dingy. I have a few mates with boats over 8m which i spend a bit of time on in summer but most of the bays you can hit with something small if you pick you launching spots correctly. Fish I'd see are you standard blue cod, blue moki, butters, the odd trumpeter, nothing extreme. Let me know when you do some to chch and we'll T up a dive. P |
Posted By: Hellzbellz76
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2023 at 5:11pm
| You have caught a black cod/Maori chief. Best of the cod family for eating |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 16 Jul 2023 at 8:26pm
|
Interesting first post Helen
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: e.m.p!
Date Posted: 17 Jul 2023 at 2:55pm
| not the fastest reply me thinks. I'm sure whoever shot this has improved their skills by now… |