For what it is worth the original image seems to be copyrighted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia. Go to this page:
http://www.marine.csiro.au/caabsearc...pcode=37268001 and click the little “image info” link under our new favorite photo at the top of the page. It should take you to this page:
http://www.marine.csiro.au/caabsearc...7268001a-t.jpg with the copyright info.
The photo is available for purchase in high resolution here:
http://www.frdc.com.au/shop/merchant...ore_Code=photo if say you wanted to publish it in a book as an illustration.
The photo FIRST is using as Clue #1 seems to come from a simple Google Images search for “moonfish” which in turn originated here (as previously noted in this thread):
http://www.australianseafoodexports..../moonfish1.jpg which is linked to from this parent webpage:
http://www.australianseafoodexports....rderonline.htm
The image used on
www.australianseafoodexports.com has the reverse text in the background as does the FIRST Clue #1 image. The GDC did not covertly plant any hidden messages in the reverse text. They have better things to do with their time. More likely the Australian seafood export company scanned a photo of a “moonfish” they had handy in some book and the text on the backside of the page (probably about some entirely different and non-related fish) came through on the scan. My bet is this is the book:
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?nid=18&pid=2181 but it may be this one also:
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?nid=18&pid=3551. I don’t have a copy of either book myself but may can find one at the office when I get back next week. If anyone lives near a university with a marine research program they might want to check the university library and see what they can find.
Given that last year the clue was in fact a latitude and longitude coordinate it might also be worth considering the CAAB Taxon Code for
Lampris guttatus is 37 268001 which could easily be construed as a latitude in North America. If a Clue # 2 comes along it might be a reference to a longitude. I doubt that the GDC would give us a lat/lon 2 years in a row but you never know.