Bermuda Hogfish
The idea for this one comes from the channel marker at Hogfish Cut in Bermuda out near Dockyard, pictured below. Also wanted something I could take to and work on in Bermuda. After cutting out the shape and making the base it's almost all handwork so ideal for the small workshop in Bermuda which has no machines. The wood is Indian Rosewood which is incredibly dense and heavy but it carves well. Full of oils and without a perceptible grain so none of the tear-out and splitting I get with the mahogany stripers. But it dulls tools very quickly. On the upside it polishes like a dark metal. The Hogfish on the beacon in the picture looks more like an angelfish, the real thing is a bit uglier, looks like a hog. Have seen good sized hogfish diving near wrecks. It is a sort of an ugly pop-eyed fish up close with four nasty canine teeth which project forward. Not pictured is the ability of the hogfish to extend out inner jaws (think Alien-the movie) and open its jaws almost 180 degrees. But I chose a relatively benign picture to model this one from, more like the image on the channel marker which looks more like an angelfish to me. The hogfish is actually a reef predator that uses it hog-like snout to dig for crabs and shrimp and is one of the most prized fish for spear-fishers.
