bluerinse 0 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I was looking up vintage roach poles used on the thames (following on from my vintage pole thread) when I found this quote “The Thames is now home to over 119 different species of fish." EA spokesman 2005. (http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/3900) Are there really that many species in the thames and can we list them? It seems a little high to me Jasper Carrot On birmingham city " You lose some you draw some" Link to post Share on other sites
yorkio 0 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 (edited) I was looking up vintage roach poles used on the thames (following on from my vintage pole thread) when I found this quote “The Thames is now home to over 119 different species of fish." EA spokesman 2005. (http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/3900) Are there really that many species in the thames and can we list them? It seems a little high to me Gawd only knows where that figure came from. I thought we only had about 50 different species in the whole of the UK and even then, I'd be hard-pressed to name more than 20 or so of them. 119 different species in the Thames is just plain silly. Edited November 18, 2008 by yorkio Link to post Share on other sites
Dick Dastardly 88 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Not really they most likely have included sea species from the estuarey as well. Must admit though it would be quite a challenge to list them all though! And thats my "non indicative opinion"! Link to post Share on other sites
yorkio 0 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Not really they most likely have included sea species from the estuarey as well. That would be cheating! You're probably right though… Link to post Share on other sites
bluerinse 0 Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 1 TROUT-SEA 2 CARP-CRUCIAN 3 CARP-MIRROR 4 CARP-COMMON 5 BULLHEAD 6 BLEAK 7 BREAM-SILVER 8 BREAM 9 BARBEL 10 EEL 11 BITTERLING 12 BULL HEAD 13 CATFISH-WELS 14 CHUB 15 DACE 16 TROUT-BROWN 17 TROUT –RAINBOW 18 SALMON 19 GRAYLING 20 ORFE-GOLDEN 21 ORFE-SILVER 22 LAMPREY SEA 23 LAMPREY BROOK 24 ZANDER 25 GUDGEON 26 STONE LOACH 27 LOACH SPINED 28 GRAY MULLET 29 THIN LIPPED MULLET 30 RUFFE 31 MINNOW 32 PERCH 33 RUDD 34 PIKE 35 ROACH 36 TENCH 37 GOLDEN TENCH 38 STICKLEBACK 10 SPINED 39 STICKLEBACK 3 SPINED 40 SMELT 41 FLOUNDER Well I can only come up with 41 and some of those might not be in the thames Jasper Carrot On birmingham city " You lose some you draw some" Link to post Share on other sites
Dick Dastardly 88 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Thats a dam good try though mate! shows how hard it is though as I read through your list and struggled to think of many more. I suppose there must be several species of Blennie and Rockling to add as well as Conger eel and a few of the ray species etc.The Thames Estuarey has a wide range of salt water species. Its all down to there definition of the "Thames" I suppose? Also would they have included fish that are no longer present or are just "accidental visiters" Such as Sturgeon and Sun fish and the likes? Be interesting to get the actual list. Bet theres a few "ornementals" as well. And thats my "non indicative opinion"! Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Walker 941 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 (edited) Here is a list of 120 species which have been caught in the tidal River Thames between Fulham and Tilbury at some time since 1964 http://www.thamesweb.com/page.php?page_id=57&topic_id=8 Freshwater Barbel Bleak Bream Bullhead Carp Carp, Crucian Catfish, Wels Chub Dace Goldfish Grayling Gudgeon Loach Minnow Perch Pike Roach Rudd Ruffe Tench Zander Euryhaline (Brackish) Bass Eel Flounder Lampern Lamprey Salmon Shad, Allis Shad, Twaite Smelt Stickleback, 3-sp. Stickleback,10-sp. Trout Trout, Rainbow Marine Anchovy Angler Fish Blue Mouth Brill Butterfish Catfish, Channel Cod Coalfish Conger Eel Dab Dab,Long Rough (unconfirmed) Dory Dragonet Eckstrom Topknot Garfish Goby, Black Goby, Common Goby, Leopard Spotted Goby, Painted Goby, Rock Goby, Sand Goby, Sand (P.lozanoi) Goby, Transparent Goldsinny Gurnard, Grey Gurnard, Red Gurnard, Streaked Gurnard, Tub Haddock Hake Herring Ling Lumpsucker Mackerel Mullet, Golden Mullet, Red Mullet, Thick-Lipped Mullet, Thin-Lipped Norway Bullhead Pilchard Pipefish, Broad-Nosed Pipefish, Great Pipefish, Nilsson's Pipefish, Snake Pipefish, Straight- nosed Pipefish,Worm Plaice Pogge Pollack Poor-Cod Pouting Ray, Sting Rockling, 5-Bearded Rockling, 4-Bearded Rockling, 3-Bearded Rockling, Northern Rockling, Shore Roker Sand Eel Sand Eel, Greater Sand Eel, Raitt's Sand-Smelt Scad Scaldfish Sea Bream, Black Sea Horse (H.hippocampus) Sea Horse (H.ramulosus) Sea Scorpion, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Short Spined Sea Snail Sea Snail, Montagu's Sea Stickleback Sea Skipper Smooth Hound Sole, Dover Sole, Lemon Solenette Sprat Tadpole-Fish Blenny, Tompot Trigger-Fish Weever, Lesser Whiting Whiting, Blue Wrasse, Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Edited November 18, 2008 by Steve Walker Link to post Share on other sites
Vagabond 1013 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 (edited) Good start Bluerinse, but you will have to reduce your list by three as Nos 3 and 4 are the same species, so are Nos 20 and 21, and also 36 and 37. Against that you could add Twaite and Allis Shads, Houting, and Atlantic Sturgeon. (although it is probably some years since these fish were present) That makes 42, and then a few "exotics" released from home aquaria and maybe surviving could take it to (say) 45 and counting everything in the estuary, another 74 marine species would not be too hard to find. (and whilst I was typing, Steve has kindly done it for us) In the nineteenth century, up to 500 tons PER DAY of mackerel, herring, cod, turbot, brill and many other species were landed at Fish Street Hill (off Thames Street) ..........Peter Ackroyd in Thames - sacred river Edited November 18, 2008 by Vagabond RNLI Governor World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 . Certhia's world species - 215 Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501 "Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato ...only things like fresh bait and cold beer... Link to post Share on other sites
Dick Dastardly 88 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Nice one Steve. And thats my "non indicative opinion"! Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Walker 941 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Hmm, but have I spoiled all the fun of guessing? Still, 8 species of goby, 6 pipefish, 5 rocklings, 3 sticklebacks... I don't think Vagabond will be cancelling any tigerfish or peacock bass sorties to hunt the wild gobies of the Thames estuary (though I bet he can no more resist rock pools than I can ) Link to post Share on other sites
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