It wasn’t a fluke that Jon Parkinson came upon an infrequently-found fish at the Katama boat landing.  

Credit the Gulf Stream for bringing the washashore fish to this Island beach. The Gulf Stream facilitates the north-south movement of marine life in a few ways. Some species swim with it, following along for food. Others are just carried along with it, unable to swim against or get out of its strong current. In the case of Jon’s fish, it was the latter, and possibly the fish flowed with the Gulf Stream in its planktonic form before becoming the juvenile fish he found deceased on the beach.  

Jon initially thought it might be a plastic fish until he smelled it. He did not flounder for an identification of this distinctly-colored, little, red, large-eyed specimen after posting it to social media. With its bright hue and its sizable eyes, it was quickly recognized as a juvenile short bigeye, pristigenys alta.  

Short bigeyes have also been called red snapper and toro snapper, though are not related to snappers. Other online posters were quick to call it Nemo, though that famous fish was a clown fish, not a bigeye, even if they share a distinct rotund body shape and bright color.  

As an adult, short bigeyes are nocturnal predators that prefer deep waters and hide among the caves and coral of the ocean bottom. Generally, they are found from the Carolinas and south into the tropics. The juveniles often hang among sargassum seaweed that floats and drifts at the surface of the water and are those young’uns are more likely to get caught up in the Gulf Stream.    

Historic records document only a few Massachusetts accounts: Marblehead Beach in 1859, Scituate 1932 to 33, Cohasset in 1937. Modern sighting on Inaturalist show five occurrences in our area. These fish are most often seen in late October and early November and are commonly found dead. They wash up on beaches after waters turn cold, since the fish cannot survive our plunging water temperatures and struggle to make it south to warmer waters.  

Short bigeyes can grow to up to 13 inches in length as adults and lead an interesting existence in their preferred habitats. Bright red is a sneaky solution in the south, since the color serves as security. Red has the longest wavelength and is the first color to disappear as the sunlight decreases with increased water depth. So, while they are bright on or above the surface, at the sea bottom they appear black and are virtually invisible in the dark.  

And those big eyes are, as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood knew, all the better to see you (and its prey) with. Besides size, those eyes have a unique membrane, called the tapetum lucidum, that acts as a mirror and reflects light back to the fish’s retina. The retina gets a second chance to catch light so it greatly improves vision in dark places.  

So perfect a fish for so many situations; just not the right match for Katama Bay and other cooling New England waters. This ocean drifter only has eyes — and adaptations — for tropical waters. In the end, it was the chilly waters that did this one in; it was simply not meant to be a sole survivor. 

Suzan Bellincampi is Islands director for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown and the Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries. She is also the author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.