NESA Species Hunt 2013

[Thunderpants]

Common Eel




Table updated



The results for the rockling vote so far .....

One type of Rockling 4 Votes - Bassboyo, Fishingmark, toonboymc, Pete from Sheilds,
Different species of Rockling 5 Votes - Aqua Holic, lumpsucker, finding nemo, codcatcher3000, Stewart1972


Any more votes?


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[Geordie-UK]

Pouting



Flounder



Dab



Lesser Sand eel



As for the rockling vote, I vote for separate species

[toonboymc]

Wrasse for me

A makki for me

[toonboymc]

A wrasse for mad rob

A mackerel for mad rob

[toonboymc]

A wrasse for Codfather 145

A pollack for Codfather

[toonboymc]

A dogfish for Fishingmark

[Thunderpants]

After another troll around the Internet I found a way of seperating lesser and greater sandeels other than by size and that is that the greater sandeel has a dark spot on each side of the snout. This external difference is much easier than having to look for teeth on the upper jaw lol Here is a reference pic showing the dark spot...


There have been four sandeels caught so far. I think they all look like lesser sandeels except for the one caught by Wee Ver which shows the dark spot. Everyone happy with this ?






I will change all the "launce" in the table to Lesser Sandeel except for Wee Ver's which I will change to Greater Sandeel. Any objections?

[Thunderpants]

Any more rockling votes before I rule in favour of multiple species?

One type of Rockling 4 Votes - Bassboyo, Fishingmark, toonboymc, Pete from Sheilds,
Multiple species of Rockling 6 Votes - Aqua Holic, lumpsucker, finding nemo, codcatcher3000, Stewart1972, Geordie UK





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[Geordie-UK]

Saithe (Coley)



Short Spined Sea Scorpion

[Bassboyo]

Am happy with either way this goes, I've already explained my vote in past posts. What I would say is that if it does go to "all species" then will all current entered photos be studied ?? Surely if the captor has not captured the correct disguising marks we can not just presume its that species ??

[Geordie-UK]

Sand eels have multiple ways to tell them apart, the marks on the snout is the weakest way, as lesser can have bands along the head, the best way and really the only way, is to open the mouth, if it forms a tube when opened, its a lesser sand eel, if it doesn't and opens in a gape, its a greater, that can be shown in photo's easily by holding the mouth open, the lesser sand eel also has a deeper V in the tail than the greater.

[Thunderpants]

Am happy with either way this goes, I've already explained my vote in past posts. What I would say is that if it does go to "all species" then will all current entered photos be studied ?? Surely if the captor has not captured the correct disguising marks we can not just presume its that species ??

The ones in the table labelled as 3B rocklings will need to be studied as they are clearly not that species. The other ones are ok IMO.

[Thunderpants]

Sand eels have multiple ways to tell them apart, the marks on the snout is the weakest way, as lesser can have bands along the head, the best way and really the only way, is to open the mouth, if it forms a tube when opened, its a lesser sand eel, if it doesn't and opens in a gape, its a greater, that can be shown in photo's easily by holding the mouth open, the lesser sand eel also has a deeper V in the tail than the greater.

Not all the current photos show the tail unfortunately and the mouths are not held open so I only have the spots to go on.

[Geordie-UK]

Not all the current photos show the tail unfortunately and the mouths are not held open so I only have the spots to go on.

Rob's, Toonboy's and mine are indeed lesser sand eel's, Rob's holding his by the hook which holds the mouth open and you can see the tube, toonboy's isn't a great pic, but I digress from the pic, its mouthparts don't seem to have the structure to form a gape, in Weever's pic you can see the shallower V in the tail and it also has a more blue and silver sheen, (lesser are more green and silver without the sheen) as well as the spots near the mouth so you are right on the money with that.
But again, it may well be that close scrutiny on submissions may be required if the submitter supplies a bog standard pic.

[Thunderpants]

Table updated. Well done Mad Rob you are now in second place !



Anyone else want to vote for one rockling or multiple rockling species?

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