No idea, but that is crazy looking

Lizardfish....

Lizzardfish I thought were more silvery. Looks more like a baby snakehead.

have lots of teeth? lizard fish has a serious set.

It does look like a snake head.

i saw the same thing in our lagoon in green island...he would swim right into my hand but was fast enough to slip away...would love to know what it is, hopefully not a snake head

Looks like the same kind of fish I caught at The Hudson Canyon Sat 7/31 on The Southern Comfort. Have about 8 pics, will try to post.

I've had snakeheads............ I don't think that's one. They're usually still red at that size. Their tales are shaped differently too. Leave it out of the water for a coupla hours. Snakeheads can breathe atmospheric air with an organ called a labyrinth for up to 2 days depending on humidity, so they won't die after being removed from the water for 2 hrs.

Snakheads are primarily fresh water too. I know there are some that have adapted to mildly brackish water, but not salt. At least not to my knowledge.

What was in it's mouth? Snakeheads have a stupid amount of teeth.

No teeth to speak of. Didnt look like a lizardfish- Ive caught them before. The hudson canyon fish looks like a sharksucker which is like a remora- note the suction plate on its head. Maybe this is a juvenile form? This small one (4 inches or so) had no suction plate that I could see.

Closest ID I found was a baby cobia. The pic at the link below looks pretty close.

http://www.thejump.net/id/cobia.htm

I think the tail is different. Does it have the suckers on the head?

I do not think it is a baby cobia based on the caudal fin (tail). 99.99% sure it is a slender sucker fish (a type of remora)

SOLD.............

I'm going with baby Cobia. If you read the article in the post above and look at the pics further down the page, it says that the tail of baby Cobia is completely different than the adults.

The pic of the young Cobia further down the page looks like a match to me....

Sucker or no sucker on the head?

Actually...while watching shark week episodes and there is a species of remora that looks identical to it in size, shape and color.

You can see a small sucker on top of the head in the one pic. Small suckers r indicative of slender sucker fish. It is the most abundant remora in warm waters and often free swims (not attached to another fish).

Slender Sucker Fish info

Again- I saw no sucker on the head-looked at it pretty carefully b4 I let it go. TK's link about the cobia is very interesting...because the tail was definitely different (non forked) in the juvenile. Having held it in my hand, i'm leaning toward cobia due to tail and lack of visable sucker, tho sharksucker is a close second. Great input, guys.

Not to beat a dead horse, but look at these pics- the juvenile cobia at bottom was caught in Mystic Island Lagoon in 2008. Looks like a dead ringer to me...

http://www.scottsbt.com/fishids/idoff/cobia.htm

anyone ever catch a grown Cobia in the barnegat bay? how do you target them?