While we were doing our second count of the afternoon a large dog snapper Lutjanis jocu swam into my sampling area. It is rare to see large fish around Navassa, and we are always on the lookout. I snapped a couple of photos from far away just to prove I saw it and continued working. After finishing my count I headed toward my buddy Mike Judge who was just finishing his count nearby. We were both surprised to see the same snapper heading toward us and we immediately began snapping pictures. It was obvious there was something wrong with this fish, and as he got closer- right up to us- we could see he was disoriented and had scrapes and cuts all over him and his fins were also frayed. (We later speculated that he might have been in a fish trap and somehow escaped). In my experience, it is very rare to be able to approach a dog snapper so close. We took a bunch of photos and one of Mike's photos, with me in the background, is included here.
Joe
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