Mystery Fish Contest #14

Answer: White Spotted Greenling

The mystery fish species in our fourteenth mystery fish species contest is a white spotted greenling, or Hexagrammos stelleri. It is a saltwater species, in the greenling family, found in inshore waters, tidal zones so you may encounter them when fishing from a jetty or the beach.

Out of 216 entries, only 33 participants (15%) were able to identify it correctly. The low percentage is likely due to the fact that British Columbian anglers mainly focus on target salmon, trout, steelhead and other common saltwater groundfish species. There are in fact many other fascinating species which people should be aware of. The most common, incorrect, generic answer that we received was greenling. Greenling is not accepted as a correct answer, just as you would not accept salmon as a correct identification for a coho salmon. Other incorrect answers include kelp greenling, sculpin and lingcod.

Congratulations to Lisa Paterson for being the lucky one of 33 who will receive a package of Pautzke Bait products from us!