Blue Form Lings

Great idea!  Thanks Brian.  Do you have any information on what causes blue form lings as opposed to grey form?  I've heard various theories relating to differences in prey species in inshore and offshore habitats.  I've seen this in cabs and kelp greenling as well.  Also, it seems to me that most blue form lings are smaller (and caught shallower).  My observations are probably biased though, due to the fact that I don't fish too deep on a kayak.

The blue ones are the gardians of all Smurf undersea operations.    They fill the same role that dobermans did for the nazis Smurfs have become very active in the lucrative sea palm black market Lings are ideal for the task due to their aggressive nature I love catching a Smurfy ling!!!

Elsie?  Does your daddy know you are writing ling commentaries?????

Hmmm, and I thought the blue ones were blue becauase of thier diet...  I mean aren't all lings simply the enforcers of the rival kelp nymph triad who compete in with the smurfs in the sea palm blackmarket.  The blue ones just happen to be more accomplished in their duties.

Wow, I struck a smurf chord.  Now I have to figure out what you-all are talking about....but I'll definitely have some of whatever Sean's had.

I am definately no expert, but just this morning I caught a blue and a brown lingcod in the same area...and have done so several times in Oregon also.  I don't know what causes it, that might help to rule out some of the options.

but I'll definitely have some of whatever Sean's had.

Free quality wine...one of the many mixed blessings of living in Ukiah.  I work occasionally with a ling biology guru, I will confirm/refute the smurf thing next time I see him.

Damn... this why I just love this site 

I'm under the impression that they are dyed from octopus ink, but that might just be a legend.  They certainly eat plenty of octopus.

Cabbies can be blueish too, not as much as lings though.  Some lings are also green or brown - they vary a lot.

I wonder if a blue one is always blue or is only blue after a lot of octopus?

What about the green ones? I speared a green and a blue in the same cove in Little River a couple of years ago.

CHEERS!

I don't have a good answer for you on this one...  Dr. Milton Love doesn't address this in his book "Probably more that you want to know about the fishes of the Pacific Coast" so I guess in this case his book title is a misnomer.  Anyway, he does speculate that the blue color of some cabezon flesh may be due to copper compounds in the shellfish they eat.   I guess this may apply to lingcod as well.

Brian

That thought about copper compounds had crossed my mind as well.  The color of a blue ling is a dead ringer for some of the copper salts that I've seen before (Copper Sulfate I believe).

To me, that's the most plausible explanation.

Erik

I tried doing a web search on it and all I could come up with is that he blue ones aren't very common up north in the Alaskan region.

Maybe there are no smurffs up there.
I heard about the copper in the shellfish also but you would think that would be any easy thing to prove or dis-prove by checking copper levels in the fish.
Kelp eaters?
 Could it be a gender thing? Has anybody caught a large female that was green or blue, I have never caught a large 1 (12+)that was.
Most of the colored ones I've seen have come from shallow water Lingcod SunTan?