Spot the difference.

Over the last ten years I've fished in various location around the Mediterranean Sea and also around the various islands of the Canaries. During that time, I've caught lots of painted combers. Or so I thought. Recently I was informed that the combers I'd caught in the Canary Islands might not be the painted variety and may in fact be butterfly winged combers. I'd never even heard of a butterfly winged comber before, so I immediately did a Google search. It threw up the following article that describes the differences between the painted comber and the butterfly winged comber and how the butterfly winged comber species had incorrectly been put together with the painted comber and sort of forgotten about.

Looking back through my blog, I studied the photos I've taken and sure enough there were obvious differences in the appearance of all the Mediterranean fish and those caught in the Eastern Atlantic. I've split the two sets below.

Locations around the Mediterranean Sea.

Crete.

Zakynthos.

Menorca.

L'Ametlla de Mar.

Cavtat.

Crete.

Kefalonia.

Crete.

Locations around the Canary Islands.

Lanzarote.

Fuerteventura.

Lanzarote.

Lanzarote.

As you can see from the examples above the vertical stripe pattern is different. The painted comber has many more than the buttefly winging comber, which only has two. The blue markings, both under the eyes and also on the flanks are much brighter in the painted comber also, with the blue markings on the butterfly winged comber being noticeably paler. I also think the head is relatively not as deep and is longer on the butterfly winged comber.

So, without leaving the house I've added another species to my life list. Great!

Tight lines, Scott.