bottom trawl specimens of interest

a few specimens that came up in the net
pen (11" x 14")

trawl caught dolphinfish (mahi-mahi)

watercolor (11" x 14")

This fish was caught within an area designated as a marine national monument in 2016.  The canyons in the monument: Oceanographer, Gilbert, and Lydonia were named after the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ships that conducted surveys of the area between 1930 - 1932. At the time, they used a navigation technique called Radio-Acoustic-Ranging (RAR), which involved tossing TNT over the side of the boat and using hydrophones to listen and time the ensuing sound waves from the explosions. Using this method, they created a map of the undersea canyons that knife into Georges Bank at the continental shelf edge, 130 miles off of the coast of Massachusetts.

[credit: NOAA Office of Coast Survey, https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/a-monumental-history/]

trawl caught frigate tuna

watercolor (11" x 14")

rainbow runner

rainbow runner (up to 4 ft, up to 101 lb)
eats: planktonic crustaceans, cephalopods, and small fishes

watercolor (23" x 15")

skipjack tuna

skipjack tuna (up to 3.6 ft, up to 76 lb)
eats: fishes, crustaceans, and squids

watercolor (23" x 15")

atlantic mackerel

atlantic mackerel (up to 2 ft, up to 7.5 lb)
eats: herring, launce, silversides, squid, euphausiid shrimps, copepods, amphipods, crustacean and mollusk larvae.

watercolor (10" x 13")

pollock

pollock (up to 3.5 ft, up to 35 lb)
eats: small herring, sand eel, young cod/hake/haddock, smelt, pelagic crustaceans, ctenophores

watercolor (10" x 13")

atlantic bonito

atlantic bonito (up to 3ft, up to 20 lb)
eats: mackerel, menhaden, alewives, silversides, squid, shrimp, sand lance

watercolor (10" x 13")

pacific bonito

pacific bonito (up to 3.3 ft, up to 25 lb)
eats: anchovy, squid, pacific saury, jack mackerel, pacific hake, small fishes

watercolor (10" x 13")

atlantic blue marlins

atlantic blue marlins (up to 16.4 ft, up to 1,803 lb)
eats: mackerel, tunas, squid, mahi mahi, pomfret, filefish, snipefish, juvenile inshore fish

watercolor & gouache (18.125" x 24")

*inspired by James Prosek

great barracudas

great barracudas (up to 7 ft, up to 110 lb)
eats: jacks, grunts, snappers, small tunas, mullets, killifishes, herrings, anchovies, cephalopods, shrimps

watercolor (13" x 10")

bluefish prey

whale shark in blue

whale shark in blue
watercolor (6.5" x 4")

striped bass

striped bass (up to 6.5 ft, up to 125 lb)
eats: menhaden, bay anchovies, other small fish, crabs, squid

watercolor (8.5" x 11")

name the tunas, win the cards

*UPDATE* After Day 1, still no winners.
*UPDATE 2* On Day 2 @ 10:50 PM ET Kyle Rushton correctly identified all five tuna species. Congrats Kyle! Your 12 pack of 'dotes is on the way.

I will ship a FREE 12-pack of pescadotes cards (great for xmas thank yous) to the first individual who correctly identifies the five tuna species painted below. Make your entries in the comments. One entry per person please.

Answer Bank
Blackfin Tuna, Striped Bonito, Frigate Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, Bullet Tuna, Albacore, Spanish Mackerel, Little Tunny, Bigeye Tuna, and the Skipjack Tuna.


watercolor (8" x 11")

swordfish head

swordfish head

watercolor (18.125" x 24")

 a take on the swordfish from James Prosek's Ocean Fishes

shortfin mako shark

shortfin mako shark (up to 12 ft, up to 1,300 lb)
eats: swordfish, tunas, bonitos, cephalopods

watercolor (18.125" x 24")

minke whale*

minke whale* (up to 35 ft, up to 28,000 lb)
eats: plankton, krill, and small fish

watercolor (18.125" x 24")

*mammal

blue whale*

blue whale* (up to 100 ft, up to 400,000 lb)
eats: krill (about 8,000 lb a day)

watercolor (18.125" x 24")

*mammal

yellowfin tuna

yellowfin tuna (up to 8 ft, up to 440 lb)
eats: flying fish, saury, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, pelagic crustaceans, squid

watercolor (7" x 10.25")