Some cool finds while collecting in Port A (More pics added)

[+Capt. Obvious]

peppermints galore

[Chad and Belinda]

See if you can snag some sweet chalices or clams while you're there.

Nice fish BTW

Let me see what I can do about that. Lol

[Chad and Belinda]

peppermints galore

I'm hoping so. Heading down there tonight.

[Robb in Austin]

So, what have you kept?

Keep us updated; this is cool!

[Chad and Belinda]

So, what have you kept?

Keep us updated; this is cool!

So far we have everything. Last night we collected a ton of peppermints as well as a few other things including a pistol shrimp.

I'll update pics a little later today. We are fixing to head out to the grass beds with Dena and her husband. I'm told depending on what time of the day it is you can collect different critters.

[+Capt. Obvious]

I am super jealous

[+etannert]

That's awesome!!! Now I want to go to the beach!

[Bpb]

Totes jelly

[Planeden]

I sense a lucrative business vacation.

[Jmvanness]

I sense a lucrative business vacation.

I was thinking the same thing. lol... Waiting for a list of what they're not going to keep...

[mFrame]

Would be but not legal to sell what you catch at the coast without a commercial license. Awesome for stocking a Texas species tank or sharing with your friends though!

[Bpb]

I was waiting for someone to bring up what mike said. I remember this same issue happening with peppermint shrimp and sgt major damsels collected from the gulf several months ago.

Not suggesting someone break the law here, but if its not illegal to sell our own frags and fish, what is to say someone can't collect live stock, take it home, then sell it from their own tanks? Kinda seems like the spirit of the law is strongly based in semantics.

Where do you draw the line between selling something you collected vs selling something you've had for a while?

I do apologize if I'm stirring the pot here, but I'm legitimately curious. Not because I plan on doing that, as the wife would never be interested in a collect and sell business out of our house, but just to fill the brain with more knowledge

[Jmvanness]

STIR STIR STIR...

[Chad and Belinda]

Would be but not legal to sell what you catch at the coast without a commercial license. Awesome for stocking a Texas species tank or sharing with your friends though!

I never thought there was enough diversity in Texas waters to do that but when we get home I'm using the extra 45 gallon for my new Lone Star Tank.

I use the extras for trading, etc. I'll have plenty to post when I get home. We also get a lot of extras for our ARC friends. Just waiting to see what makes it. I still need to post pics of the other critters we have collected the past few days. Also heading to the south Jetty Sunday morning for some more snorkeling. There is one more type of fish I want to add to my collection. I'll post pics when I get that one.

[Jmvanness]

I've been looking everywhere for a guide of the fish native to the Texas coast, anyone know where to find that? That way when I go down, I'll know what to look for. lol

[Planeden]

What l meant to say is a nice "my friends gave me this free trip so I gave 'em some of my souvenirs" vacation .

Can't wait to find out what this mystery critter from the south jetty will be.

[(Bio)³]

I was waiting for someone to bring up what mike said. I remember this same issue happening with peppermint shrimp and sgt major damsels collected from the gulf several months ago.

Not suggesting someone break the law here, but if its not illegal to sell our own frags and fish, what is to say someone can't collect live stock, take it home, then sell it from their own tanks? Kinda seems like the spirit of the law is strongly based in semantics.

Where do you draw the line between selling something you collected vs selling something you've had for a while?

I do apologize if I'm stirring the pot here, but I'm legitimately curious. Not because I plan on doing that, as the wife would never be interested in a collect and sell business out of our house, but just to fill the brain with more knowledge

It all got brought up in that pep shrimp thread.

Basically it boils down to if they can prove you collected if I remember right. Lucky for us those peps and fish are crazy good at hitch hiking into bags of water, and of so hard to see and make sure they don't go with the bagged water

[Chad and Belinda]

I've been looking everywhere for a guide of the fish native to the Texas coast, anyone know where to find that? That way when I go down, I'll know what to look for. lol

If you go to maast.org there should be a power point presentation somewhere in there. A few years ago they had a speaker that did this presentation showing just about everything found in the Texas waters you could possibly want for your aquarium.

[subsea]

I was waiting for someone to bring up what mike said. I remember this same issue happening with peppermint shrimp and sgt major damsels collected from the gulf several months ago.

Not suggesting someone break the law here, but if its not illegal to sell our own frags and fish, what is to say someone can't collect live stock, take it home, then sell it from their own tanks? Kinda seems like the spirit of the law is strongly based in semantics.

Where do you draw the line between selling something you collected vs selling something you've had for a while?

I do apologize if I'm stirring the pot here, but I'm legitimately curious. Not because I plan on doing that, as the wife would never be interested in a collect and sell business out of our house, but just to fill the brain with more knowledge

A commercial license is required to sell native fishes and crabs. It is a revenue issue not an ethical question.

As was pointed out by speakers at the C4 conference, there are some that question the ethics of reef keeping. The line between the two is invasion of the privacy in your home.

Patrick

[lenver]

And this is were you need to pay attention to organizations like PETA, they basically do not want anyone to own animals. Remember the guy doing the wale wars the captain, for him is not about responsible fish keeping, is that no one should be able to do it, period.

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[Mr Cob]

I saw sargasum seaweed in one of the pics... Should be a ton of livestock in that stuff...including sagasum anglers which are really cool.

Great catch.

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[Chad and Belinda]

Always tons of good stuff in sargasum. We got about 4 or 5 anglers and a few file fish. I took a few sargasum shrimp but not many. Already had a lot of peppermints. I haven't had time to update this post but I will at some point today. I have several pics as well as a list of fish available in Port A and the immediate area. Some may be very surprising to some folks.

[esacjack]

how are you catching all of this ?

[Chad and Belinda]

esacjack, on 22 Jul 2013 - 12:01, said:

how are you catching all of this ?

Either in the low areas off of FM 361 on either side of Port A. Just take a seine net. That's where we got all of the seahorses, snappers, filefish, decorators crabs as well as the pistol shrimp (which is driving me crazy since I never had one and keep thinking something is hitting my glass) as well as the burr fish (also called a puffer). Basically all of the dull colored critters. The exception would be a cow fish. I really didn't have any hopes of seeing one of these guys. However, Belinda was walking around with a net and spotted one in about 4" of water. Funny how fast they can move when they are motivated. Grrrrr

The peppermints as well as the colorful fish are caught off of the jetties. The peppermints and to an extent the anglers and file fish are caught off of the south jetty. The best bet is to go all of the way down to the end or close to the end and you need to do so after dark. Take a dip net, a red light, a 5 gallon bucket and an a batter operated pump that you can find at Walmart in the fishing isles, some airline tubing and an air stone. Shine your light between the boulders where the water is (and calmer water is the best). The red eyes looking up at you are the peppermints. Take your net and scoop away. Beats paying $6+ each at the stores. You will also catch Sgt Major damsels there. Watch the rock as they can get very slick.

[Chad and Belinda]

By the way, Sargasum is the yellow/ brown sea weed that washes on shore this time of year. Take a net then start wading around. Pick up these clumps of sargasum that are floating around and shake them over the net. After awhile, you will end up with anglers and filefish.

Here are some of the other ones that were collected.

One of two puffers we found in the grassy areas. The other one was twice this size. He went home with a buddy of mine who was other there with us.

Here is a wrasse. It is called a slippery d**k and no I am not making this name up. lol

sargassum angler

Remember that collecting corals from the Gulf is not allowed. These are found everywhere, even along the jetty. Also saw a lot of SPS

sargassum angler

Just run your fingers through the sand when you are splashing around. Don't be surprised if you grab something else like I did. Lol

These large ones are caught along the grassy areas but also on the beach (when you get lucky like we did on this particular one).

Also found in a lot of areas.

Sorry for this bad pic. He is a juvenile blue headed wrasse

Eventually he will look like this.

What I had hopped to catch at the jetty but was unable to was the French Angel. The waves were too rough that morning which was our last day.

Keep in mind that the tropical fish die when the water get colder in the winter. The adults lay and fertilize their eggs in Mexico and the Caribbean. The eggs make their way here which is why the fish were see are small.

Below is a list of fish that you can find in the Port A area. They have either been seen or collected by a friend of mind. You can also find other tropical in other areas of the Texas Gulf.

Blue Angel (1-3 per year)

French Angel (30-100+ per year)

Foureye Butterflyfish (3 ever)

Doctorfish (1-3 year) (one year dozens)

Ocean Surgeonfish

Northern Searobin

Bighead Searobin

Emerald Sleeper

Southern Hake

Southern Stargazer

Bank Cusk-Eels

Skilletfish

Frillfin Goby

Least Puffer

Tripletail

Whitespotted Soapfish

Grey Triggerfish (common)

Planehead Filedish (1-2 per year)

Seagrass & Oyster Beds:

Cowfish (2 one year)

Leopard Searobin

Spotted Scorpionfish (common)

Belted Sandbass (common)

Tessellated Blenny (lots one year)

Misc other less interesting Blennies

Hairy Blenny (common)

Chromis (I thought he said purple) (1-6 most years)

Porkfish (1-6 per year)

Flame Cardinal (dozens to hundreds @ night)

Freckled Cardinal (1 ever, but may have mistaken for Flame Cardinal

:arrotfish (1-2 every other year) (common south padre jetties)

Jewelfish (Yellowtail Dansel) (1-3 most years)

Bicolor Dansel (2-dozens Some years)

Yellowtail Dansel)

Bicolor Dansel

Brown Chromis

Porkfish

Flame Cardinal

Freckled Cardinal

Spotted Scorpionfish

Belted Sandbass

Tessellated Blenny

I just wanted to say that I learned a mountain of information on this trip and have much more to go. Thanks Carl for teaching Belinda and I and for getting me to go into areas I would have never thought I would ever go into. I hear August and September are the best months. Can't wait to head back.