Black Brotula - A Lucky Find

At a dive site in Curacao, called Jeremy, I was struggling with focusing my camera on a juvenile trunkfish, the size of a green pea, when Mary banged her tank and gave me the come here sign. She was pointing excitedly toward an opening between two coral mounds. You almost had to stand on your head to see into it and at first I could see nothing. Mary shined her light into the tunnel and we waited. Suddenly a small creature, no bigger than 1-1 ½ inches, darted across the light beam. Its locomotion was ribbon like with a blunt head and tapered torso surrounded by continuous dorsal and anal fins ending in a pointed tail.

I quickly pulled off my slate and wrote “BLACK BROTULA” on it and showed Mary. Mary looked at me with a puzzled look as I hooked my camera on a D-ring and clapped for her and then we did a high five. I took my slate and wrote “VERY RARE” on it and Mary beamed and clapped back. I pulled my dive light out and we both peered into the tunnel to study the little fish. Sadly the position of the tunnel would not allow me to get a photograph, without possibly damaging the reef, but we were satisfied with watching the little fish dart back and forth, as we made mental note of its behavior.

Upon ascent I told the dive guide and boat captain that I had seen a Black Brotula. They both looked at me like I was an alien life form and I could tell they had no clue what I was talking about.

Mary and I have travelled all over the Caribbean in search of specific fish. I keep a log in the back of my old edition of Reef Fish Identification and there are few fish we have not sighted. The Black Brotula is one of those that have eluded us. It is hard to find because it is very shy and lives deep in dark recesses and crevices of the reef. I had been searching for years, but never could find it, and Mary had happened upon it in a most unlikely place. That is one of the things that make scuba diving so interesting.

Interesting fact about the Black Brotula.

The Black Brotula is the only bony fish in the Caribbean that is known to bear its young alive, rather then egg laying, giving it a Family name of Viviparous (bear young alive) Brotula.