Bay Islands & North Coast, Honduras

Bonefish

Albula vulpes

The grey ghost of the flats — a mirror-silver speedster that feeds tailing in inches of water in the Florida Keys and on Oahu, and burns off line like nothing its size.

Threadfin Bonefish

Albula nemoptera

The estuarine bonefish of the western Caribbean — Belize and Honduras lagoons to Costa Rica and Panama, told by the thread-like elongated last ray of the dorsal fin. A wary lagoon fish for fly and light-tackle anglers, catch-and-release in Belize.

Mahogany Snapper

Lutjanus mahogoni

A small, big-eyed Caribbean snapper of clear shallow reefs, reddish-brown like polished mahogany. It gathers in daytime schools and feeds at night, and is a classic light-tackle reef fish.

Palometa

Trachinotus goodei

A small, deep-bodied pompano of surf and clear bays, famous for the long black streamers on its dorsal and anal fins. It schools in the wash, feeds on sand-dwelling prey and is a favourite light-tackle beach fish.

Southern Sennet

Sphyraena borealis

A small, schooling barracuda relative of Florida and Caribbean inshore water, forever in motion over mud and reef. Taxonomy note: the fish long called southern sennet (Sphyraena picudilla) is treated by Catalog of Fishes as the same species as the northern sennet, Sphyraena borealis.

Sergeant Major

Abudefduf saxatilis

The Atlantic's bold little striped damselfish, in yellow-green with five black bars, swarming over shallow reef tops and around piers. Taxonomy matters here: FishBase is explicit that Abudefduf saxatilis is strictly Atlantic — the look-alike Pacific fish is a separate species, Abudefduf troschelii, so no Pacific distribution is claimed on this page.

Redtail Parrotfish

Sparisoma chrysopterum

A common Caribbean parrotfish that grazes algae from reef and rock, keeping reef surfaces open for coral — an encounter species best admired and released, as parrotfish are discouraged as food in many places for their grazing role.

Yellowtail Parrotfish

Sparisoma rubripinne

A widespread Caribbean parrotfish — yellow-tailed as a juvenile/initial-phase fish and red-finned as a terminal male — that grazes algae off reefs and is best released to keep reefs clean for coral.