Wierd Fish !

[macky]

mariner kenny

what sort of length was the fish???

i dont think it is a type of blenny as it has a more flatter head, i would go with the eels pout.

macky

[Doc]

OK OK, time to put this one to bed.

Its an Eelpout, or sometimes commonly called the viviparous blenny. Latin name: (Zoarces viviparus).

Its no more a blenny than it is a sandeel although all three belong to the same order of fish; Perciformes

Order: Perciformes
Family: Zoarcidae
Genus: Zoarces
Species: viviparus

There are a number of species of eelpout in the northern Hemishpere, the commonest in Uk waters are;
Sars Eelpout: Lycenchelys sarsii
Esmarks Eelpout: Lycodes esmarkii
Vahls Eeelpout: Lycodes vahlii
Viviparous blenny: Zoarces viviparus

Quite why Zoarces\'s common name is blenny I don\'t know, but the MCS species directory, Whitehead et al (UNESCO) and most other texts relate to it as the viviparus blenny.

TC\'s pictured fish (Lycodichthys dearbornii) is a southern hemisphere species restricted to the Antarctic Ocean, predominantly on the slope of the Ross Sea shelf.

[DaveMason]

Nigel,

Are you sure about that ? You sounded a bit uncertain - anyone would think you were a marine biologist or something :P :P :P :P

[Norman]

so long as you don`t teach doc anything about pirk insertion as you did with tony then it`ll be all ok on the day

[Topecatcher]

Hey I\'ll have you know Nige spends a lot of time studying fish...................................mainly mine lol
Tried inserting a pirk into the top of Docs head once but it bounced off....................................too shiney
Do we need a metal detector for the weigh in then Norman?????????

[DaveMason]

Everyones got to walk through them machines they have at airports for the comp weigh-in Dave :P

[TC]

Lol, Doc....
Nobody\'s gonna argue with that, m8

However.....is it not possible that a Lycodichthys dearbornii just may have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque? - or have I seen too many Bugs Bunny cartoons.....lol

[ranger163]

i caught something like this sunday gone, in front of the brigade hut at south shields, it had a dark bump on it\'s head and a lovely set of teeth.

[Doc]

If not an Eelpout, i would say probably a Shanny (Lipophrys pholis), and this is definitely a blenny. The males have a reasonable set of teeth, they are extremely common within the intertidal zone, predominantly on hard ground, but are often found on softer sediments when hard ground or hard structures are nearby.

In the breeding season they have similar brown(ish) colouration to eelpout, but also have a large dark spot at the beginning of the dorsal fin which starts at the back of the head, which is raised and looks like a bump.

[Topecatcher]

Well if nowt else Dave you\'ll leave the comp well educated on the latin names for fish mate