FLESH EATING FISHY
Lauren had a great idea to try and film a fish we couldn't identify from the surface one night last week. We had fed it the night before, and it seemed pretty comfortable close to the boat, launching from between the hulls at the stern to grab it's dinner. We figured we'd be able to get the GoPro close enough to it under the surface and illuminate it with a flashlight to capture some footage.
We had friends over for dinner that night, and Kevin decided to hand feed this mini monster, and got a little more than he expected. He managed to hand feed this feisty guy a few bites to get his appetite going. It would whip in and out of our vision from under the boat, snatching the food with a great bit of splashing. Then, the unthinkable happened. Kevin nearly lost an arm.
Well, not really, but he did have blood drawn! Apparently, this predator fish with the giant eyes has a hard time distinguishing between lunch meat and finger meat. Or does it?
After viewing the footage, we were able to identify it as a Horse-Eye Jack. This one particular fish we were playing with was probably about 18 inches long, silver with long, sloping pectoral fins (it looked like it had air-lats), and yellow tail. It was was pretty quick, and very aggressive in it's strikes. As we found out, it's teeth aren't huge, but they are sharp. Most of the blood was from Kevin's nail bed, with a another small cut on the pad side.
It's not surprising that it got the name Horse-Eye Jack. It's eyes are pretty large, and protrude under it's brow. It has a pretty blunt shaped head, and had an exaggerated taper to it's tail. Here's a pic from Wikipedia, taken by Dino Kanlic.
Lauren suggested we make a scary trailer using iMovie, and here it is!
This was a fun little video to make. Lauren got to learn the ins and outs of iMovie, and has been expressing an interest in video editing. We'll probably make a few more fun trailers, and then move her on to Final Cut Pro X. Maybe, one day, I'll have a full time video editor! She's also been doing the lions share of our Instagram posts for the last week. Go check it out!
Alyssa had been getting in the digital mix as well. She has a couple of Minecrafters that she follows on YouTube. We decided that for every five videos she watches, she has to make a Minecraft video of her own. She's been honing her skills with screen capture and video editing apps on Android. Once "summer break" hits, we'll probably have them start learning some coding skills as well.
We have another video we're almost done with that we'll post soon. We ventured over to Cas Cay, known locally as Happy Island, and ran into another predator fish. Probably the biggest fish I've knowingly been in the water with, and this one is not to be missed! Stay tuned!
