Tropical fish...in New Jersey?

[clancy]

If I didn't see this with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it. Earlier this evening I was at the Shark River (http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-14,GGLG:en&q=shark+river+nj)in Belmar. I saw two guys suiting up for a night dive. I've seen people diving for lobster at night at the inlet but never in the bay. One of the divers told me they were going after tropical fish. "At this time of year you can find the same variety of fish here as you can in the Caribbean." He went on to say that he pursued them for his own tank and also supplied Jenkinson's Aquarium (http://www.jenkinsons.com/aquarium/)in Point Pleasant. I stuck around and 30 minutes later they returned with six different varieties of multi colored tropical fish.

[Kaa]

"different varieties of multi colored" fish I believe.

"same variety of fish here as you can in the Caribbean" I do not.

Kaa

[JBreeze]

Here is an article about tropicals in New England....

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/aquarium2004.html

Not unusual to catch one around here while fishing for bait fish.

[nedL]

I remember about thirty years ago there was a big sunfish (reports were of something like 7 feet long) that made its way to Marine Park in Red Bank NJ. There was even a picture of it (in the water) in the local paper.