Identifying species

[FearTheHands]

This week I caught a few new speices I've not caught before (being a relatively novice angler).

 

I'm fairly certain that this below is a Lesser Spotted Dogfish ? Caught night fishing from Chesil Cove:

 

 

Also I know that this is a Wrasse, but exactly what sort ? I was asked by a passer by if it was a Ballan Wrasse, but I didn't know ?:

 

 

Both fish were returned safely

[Norm B]

FearTheHands:

This week I caught a few new speices I've not caught before (being a relatively novice angler).

 

I'm fairly certain that this below is a Lesser Spotted Dogfish ? Caught night fishing from Chesil Cove:

:cool: Yes, it's a dogfish and the other is probably a ballan but could be a corkwing.

 

Also I know that this is a Wrasse, but exactly what sort ? I was asked by a passer by if it was a Ballan Wrasse, but I didn't know ?:

 

 

Both fish were returned safely

[gonefishing]

be careful when putting wrasse back in...even a drop of 6 inches can stun them, sometimes never to recover.

 

i'm leaning towards a corkwing because of the scale size...but its sharing traits from both...do wrasse x breed?

[kentangler]

It's the smallest lesser spotted dog I have ever seen!

[FearTheHands]

quote:

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It's the smallest lesser spotted dog I have ever seen!

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How small do you think it is ? This measured a tad over 25 inches long ...

[FearTheHands]

quote:

---

be careful when putting wrasse back in...even a drop of 6 inches can stun them, sometimes never to recover.

 

i'm leaning towards a corkwing because of the scale size...but its sharing traits from both...do wrasse x breed?

---

All the wrasse I caught were from a pier & had a drop of a good 9ft back into the water & they all went back in with no problems ...

 

I have posted a couple more pics of more that I caught - maybe that will help ID them ? Interested to know exactly what I've caught!

 

 

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Hi Fear et al

 

You mean that wrasse measured 25 inches?

 

It looks like a female ballen wrasse to me, in fact I would be pretty certain of that with the females being less well coloured than the males... although the fin colouration is quite unusual.

 

Corkwings are predominantly green or yellow hues often with scribble patterns and lines like on the tops of mackerel, although that could be a local colour variation but I've never seen them any other colours. Another Cornish site states that they have distinct black spots on the tail.

 

For some great (and ok the odd not so great) underwater photos with captions identifying the species, try www.lizardiver.co.uk

 

There are a wide variety of other small wrasse like rockcooks resident in UK and Irish waters, many of which are picked up and not recognised for what they are... probably done it myself.

 

HTH

[FearTheHands]

If I'd landed a 25 inch wrasse I'd we a bit more excited! The doggy was 25 "

 

Thanks Kieran for the link. I am at present also searching to try & put a positive ID on the fish I caught.

 

As a novice it's interesting learning new species. I was told a Pollack I'd caught was a Whiting by an "experienced" angler. Now having caught a few of both I know the difference as soon as one is hooked as they have very different characteristics ...

[gonefishing]

the top one in that new set is definately ballan...note the club shaped end of the dorsal fin

 

the dropping thing with wrasse is just something i've noted...i've seen one wake up after falling off a hook, 15ft up on a pier, after 10 secs (and why do they always do it when there's a crowd of tourists around?)...but i've also seen them go after just being dropped over the side of a boat or just slipped out your hands when being unhooked on the jetty edge never to recover...it seems odd for such a hardy fish, but i always take extra care of the little buggers now.

 

[ 23. October 2004, 01:54 AM: Message edited by: gonefishing ]

[Zigs]

the doggy looks small because of the size of pebbles at that end of the chesil, photo the same fish at burton bradstock & it would look huge