Raumatibeach wrote:
Great photos there Nepptune, what sort of critter is that?Looks like some sort of spotted puka.
Also those Jigstar Africa field tester shirts are very cool, I bet you could sell a few truckloads of those.
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Cheers RB...
Thats a Potato Bass, its a kind of Rockcod/Grouper we get on our east coast and right up the African Coastline on the east.... they are a protected species in SA waters due to the fact they were brought nearly to extinction by commercial fisherman and Spearos in the 80's, as they are typically aggressive and inquisitive, making for easy shots for spearos and commercials alike... kinda strange because they are one of the very few grouper species that taste like Shi!t!!!!
So since the intorduction of the ban, they ahve rebounded incredibly, especially in Southern Mozambique which is where we got this one.... they can be a bit of a nuisance as they are partial to stealing a hooked fish more often than not... pretty common to hook a small fish on SB, to have it suddenly grow into a monster 30 seconds into the fight...
we estimated this sucker at about 25 kilos, but they grow to nearly 100 kilos....
Awesome to dive with, as they get very tame very quickly... we had a resdinet one called Clive for years at Sodwana who was a major attraction as he was so tame, and huge, you could pet him, rub his tongue... feed him trigger fish ( pretty fun watching him inhale a whole trigger you just pulled out of a crevice from about 50cm away... ) until a few years ago some moron with a speargun and no brain decided to be a hero and shoot him.... guy arrived back on the beach thinking he was a hero to show off his monster fish and he nearly got lynched!!! They had to air lift the stupid bugger off the beach to avoid him getting the daylights knocked out of him...
Thats not a dig at Spearos as a note, alot of my buddies are fine spearos, and I have nothing but respect for spearing, and have spent my time under water with the "Metal Bait" but like everything, you have some idiots who spoil it for everyone else....