Fish identification in Naples, Italy and the World

When I was a kid I used to love watching the film “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”.

I used to watch this film over and over of course wishing that I, like the hero Mr. Limpet, could be a fish. During the initial scene where Mr. Limpet realizes that he is a fish and bumps into a hermit crab he says:

“Why, you're a splendid specimen
of a Pagurus pollicaris.

In common terminology,
you're a crustacean, a hermit crab.”

Those familiar with the film will know that the hermit crab immediately became offended and directed Mr. Limpet to “raise his fins” for a fight.

Well, unlike "Crusty" I was amazed at how a crab could be called a Pagurus pollicaris or even a hermit crab for that matter! (I was 6) I always wanted to be able to look at a fish and immediately be able to point out the genus and species of that creature without having to look through a thousand books. I now know there are 276,500 common names of fish in the ocean. I think I’m happy with just using this tool that I found at Fish Base.org:

Fish Base.org

This database contains over 31,200 species of fish and allows you to narrow your search to country or level of invasiveness. I learned that there are 491 different species of fish associated with the country of Italy.

If you use the fish identification tool then you can narrow your search just by what you saw in the water.

I located a species that I had seen out at Nisida several times and discovered that the true name of this little guy is a “Greater Weever”. These fish like to bury themselves under the sand when you approach them so all you see are their beady little eyes and little mouth.

After finding the shape of the fish I discovered there were 9 species of this family Trachinidae then narrowed that down to 4 specific species in the Mediterranean. (Lesser weever, Spotted weever, Greater weever, and Starry weever).

I guarantee that once you start playing with this site you will be identifying all the crazy fish you can find! The next thing you know we will all be A.W.A.R.E. Diver certified!

Did you finally find the name to that ‘weird’ fish you’ve been seeing lately in your favorite dive spot? Can you identify what genus and family that species is in? Share your find with us in the comments!