Came across this online:
Due to the bluish tint of the cyanobacteria (algae) in the water. It works it’s way up the foodchain through the herbivores (shrimp) and into the body of the redfish. The color is expressed (shown) through the tail as this is where the chemical somehow gets located.
Barbawang??? Is this BS or for real
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
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sounds good to me, as the blue is most prevalent in the smaller fish (small fish eat more shrimp than larger ones). As they get larger, the diet shifts more to fin fish, and the blue hue dissipates…
Never heard about the blue, but when they make it a little ways up some black water rivers they sure get a beautiful bronze color.
quote:
Originally posted by CH Allensounds good to me, as the blue is most prevalent in the smaller fish (small fish eat more shrimp than larger ones). As they get larger, the diet shifts more to fin fish, and the blue hue dissipates…
I would aggree with that…this one was under slot a few years back…but it was the most blue I’d ever seen on one.
bioaccumulation of something produced by cyanobacteria through the trophic levels, eh? i’ll buy it! CH’s take makes sense, i always assumed it was just an endogenously produced juvenile morph because i had never heard an explanation. where’d you find the info?
bacteria help marine organisms do some crazy things:
some of the light produced by anglerfishes comes from bacterial bioluminescence.
even invertebrates are in on it- read about squid “counterillumination camouflage” here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence#Counterillumination_camouflage
There it is! I’m researching the translation in Barbawang’s “Biology for Dummies”.
Brock. Always awesome. I wish I had half mind for such things. All the best to you and the missus on your second Christmas together.
Good stuff on the tails, also. Muffin men like me just assumed the cold weather made them blue. They can be breath taking on a fish.
Vinman
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Thanks, V.
Merry Christmas and blue tails to you and yours!
Wow sailfish, that’s a cool photo. I gotta ask, is it doctored or was it really that blue? I’ve seen the blue tint, but never to that extreme.
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When my wife “Dr Laurie” was getting her Masters degree, she was genetically engineering bacteria to glow when in the presence of something. For example, if a soil sample was suspected of containing mercury… sprinkle on some of her “bugs” and if mercury was there it would glow. They used the genes from those deep sea creatures. Cool stuff 
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com | www.summervillesaltwateranglers.com
Muffin men and all this talk of some tail and it glows, where you boys fushen Diamonds??
Local Boy, Just having fun.
Kinda like flamingos which eat blue/green algea(cyanobacteria) or crustaceans that eat the algae which contain pigments called carotenoids(carrots contain beta-carotene) that are broken down by enzymes in the liver and turned into the pink pigment that you see in their feathers. Now that you mention it it makes perfect sense, before I always just assumed they lit up like pelagic fish do when they get excited.
I did a little research and I think the carotenoids in blue/green algae the flamingos eat are broken down into canthaxanthin(the pink pigment) so redfish must break carotenoids into some sort of blue pigment.
Visited the Waddell Mariculture Center which raises our State’s released redfish. I asked the biologists about their blue tails and red color, which anyone who consistently fishes the flats can tell you changes in a matter of days. They said they have no indication that it is affected by anything. They will spontaneously change colors in the tanks with no light, food, agitation, etc differences. Go figure. Always wondered why saltwater fish in large aquariums seem to have lost their color as well.
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Check out this video and skip to 6:45 for a potential answer to the blue tail riddle…
I have heard two theories. High shellfish intake causes blue tail. I heard that when they are very aggresively feeding that the tail turns blue as well.
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