Q: We released this fish last March while chumming a patch reef for ballyhoo near Islamorada, in the Florida Keys. He stayed up in the chum line for three days until our cousin finally got fed up and caught the dang thing. It had sharp teeth and blue iridescent spots. Can you tell us what it is?

Mark Schrader
St. Paul, Minnesota
and Tim Long
Appleton, Wisconsin

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A: Mark and Tim, these guys have a habit of hanging around. What your cousin finally nailed was a scrawled filefish, Aluterus scriptus. Filefishes are first cousins to triggerfishes, which may explain those sharp teeth. They like to stay close to floating things like    sargassum weed — or chum lines. They're very slow swimmers, but maybe because they're so thin and their skin is so tough, they don't worry too much about predators. In fact, that rough skin gives them their name. In fish lore, some people claim to have made files from the dried skins of these fish. — Bob Shipp