Researchers in the Coastal Ecology Center recently received a call from the Harbor Master at Wells Harbor asking if someone would come down and look at a "strange" fish that came up in one of the local lobsterman's trap. Upon arrival at the harbor we were greeted by this "visitor" to our waters.

It is a Grey Triggerfish (Balistes capriscus), which is usually found well south of Cape Cod in the Mid-Atlantic to Southern Atlantic as far south as Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico. Although not unheard of in the Gulf of Maine, it certainly raises some eyebrows when such a "tropical looking" fish is found in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. Warmer than normal ocean temperature is likely responsible for the specimen to have wandered out of its usual range. A beautiful specimen and interesting occurrence.