book on species of fish

[elliot]

I am going to Gambia on a fishing holiday and I need a good book I can take with me which I can use to identify the different species of fish I am catching so I know if they are poisonous or if they are the best tasting fish in Africa or more importantly is it goanna turn round and bite me and land me in a great deal of trouble. If any one knows of such book or book's please point me it the right direction.

[littlefeathers]

Amazon have a book:

 

The South African Fisherman: An Angler's Guide to Tackle, Bait, Fish Species, First Aid and Conservation and More Than 100 Coastal Fishing Resorts

Ivor Whibley, Pat Garratt

 

 

Im not sure if this will be any good for you :confused:

[littlefeathers]

Originally posted by littlefeathers:

[QB] Amazon have a book:

 

The South African Fisherman: An Angler's Guide to Tackle, Bait, Fish Species, First Aid and Conservation and More Than 100 Coastal Fishing Resorts

Ivor Whibley, Pat Garratt

 

 

Im not sure if this will be any good for you :confused: or if this is any where near where you will be fishing.

[Vagabond]

elliot:

so I know if they are poisonous or if they are the best tasting fish in Africa or more importantly is it goanna turn round and bite me

The Atlantic puffer fish is both ! It is quite commonly caught, and the local Wolof tribe eat them - but only after careful preparation. They are delicious, but parts of them are poisonous and need to be discarded as soon as they are caught. Only eat them if a Wolof fisherman has prepared them first. It is often called "Butterfish" by the locals.

 

There is no book I know of that covers all the fish of that area - few of the South African fish mentioned by Little Feathers turn up in the Gambia.

 

Even my three-volume "Fishes of the North Eastern Atlantic" published by UNESCO only covers about 70% of the fish you might catch.

 

Obviously, beware of teeth !! also, beware of spines - on dorsal fins they are obvious, but some on other fins and on gill covers are not so obvious. Use a THICK rag when unhooking anything you don't recognise. Some spines are poisonous, and all can give you a more or less painful stab.

 

...and watch out for the tail stings of sting rays.

 

Have fun - the fishing used to be superb!

[H.A.]

Take photos of any unidentified fish .... ask for the English name for it, then try:

 

 

http://www.fishbase.org/search.html

[spasor]

Elliot.

You`ll be amazed at how many local kids will appear out of the woods to be your guide!!

Most of them know `sod all` about the techniques of fishing. But they all know which ones are good to eat? It`ll cost you the equivalent of £2-3 per day to get good advice. And most of the little sods can be good company.

Otherwise their is a firm that does trips to the Gambia. I think the name is `Greenies`, but they may not be helpful if you haven`t booked a holiday or days fishing with them. Well they`re English! You know how tight fisted they can be.

Paul.

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Try http://www.fishbase.org and specify the country - it will give you an exhaustive list of all fish found in sea and fresh water, and incidentally it tells you which ones are poisonous or possess other dangers to man

 

Best advice would be to fish with a local who knows his fish.

[Kieran Hanrahan]

quick explanation of some of the terms found on fishbase when you specify "dangerous" and "gambia" : --

 

traumatogenic - it can eat you!

ciguatera poisoning - do not eat it, toxic

venomous - usually spines, occassionally refers to outer coating of slime on shallow water species like soapfish and also deep water species (less likely)

other - bizarre listing for several types of hammerhead sharks that might otherwise appear under the traumatogenic label and pufferfish of which mention was made earlier in the thread!

 

potential pest - hangs around afterwards in the bar blagging cigarettes and beers off you

 

Enjoy the holiday elliot, you lucky devil!

 

[ 25. September 2003, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Kieran Hanrahan ]

[MrWiggly]

What a great site Kieran !! Thanks for that !