NESA Species Hunt 2013

[Bassboyo]

Unless the captor can show 5 barbules in there photo they have to be shore rockling.

[finding nemo]

I was there when wee ver cought his and it deffo had 3 barbles

Shore rockling it must be

they all look alike to me so ill second the notion bass boyo has made

[Geordie-UK]

There are ways to tell them apart, listed at this site

LRSAC Official Website

Basically, the 3 Bearded rockling has a row of white hairs in its indent behind its head, shore rockling have the hairs, but brown not white,

So pics will have to show the white hairs, or again, it is up to the submitter to take a clear and concise image to make ID clear.

I see no 3 Bearded rockling on any submitted pic in this thread according to the description on the Lymeregissac site

[lambtonworm]

There are ways to tell them apart, listed at this site

LRSAC Official Website

Basically, the 3 Bearded rockling has a row of white hairs in its indent behind its head, shore rockling have the hairs, but brown not white,

So pics will have to show the white hairs, or again, it is up to the submitter to take a clear and concise image to make ID clear.

I see no 3 Bearded rockling on any submitted pic in this thread according to the description on the Lymeregissac site

I Give my opinion to Mike a while back that there had been no 3 beards entered and most if not all shore are dubious,In my opinion most are 5 beard and captors are only counting the main prominent barbels where a lot of the 5's have 2 small barbels often laying flat above the nasal flaps that are barely noticable at times ..

[Thunderpants]

OK lads there is always going to be a difference in opinions on the identity of rockling species but a decision needs to be made so we can carry on with the hunt. When I started this species hunt the whole point was to have fun catching as many species as possible and all this "debating" is taking the fun out of it. That stops now. As the one running the hunt the final decision is mine and I have made a decision. Of course you can't please all the people all the time and whatever I decide there will always be someone who does not agree but at the end of the day if you do not like the way I am running the hunt then you do not have to take part. My decision is this.....

1. Three bearded rocklings are a rare catch in our area and always have the characteristic colour pattern of dark spots on a light background. Unless a fish shows these characteristic markings it will not be accepted as a 3B. No 3Bs have been caught so far in the hunt this year or last year.

2. Shore rocklings are rare in the north east and claimed by at least one website (Marlin) that they do not occur at all in our area MarLIN - The Marine Life Information Network . However I do not dismiss the possibility that shore rocklings could occasionally be caught in our area from time to time so if the photograph submitted clearly shows the necessary identifying features it will be accepted i.e. only three barbels (no stubby barbels , stumps or lumps that could be a 5B) and either (i) brown or drab colouring or (ii) light spots on a dark background.

3. Five bearded rocklings are clearly the common species in our area. I have caught a lot of rocklings with five barbels showing many different colour and pattern variations and all the suspect fish are consistent with these colour patterns. Some of those I have caught show varying sized barbels sometimes just stumps. Whether this is due to being poorly formed or lost through damage is anybodies guess but it is a fact that they are sometimes this way. So unless the evidence given clearly shows one of the other species this will be the default.

OK. So this is the new rule and I have added it to the rules in the first post... To claim a shore rockling or three bearded rockling you must provide a clear photograph showing it's characteristic features. Where a photograph is blurred or taken from an angle where the identity is unclear then it will be assumed to be the commoner species i.e. a five bearded rockling.

So following this new rule the table will be updated as follows :-

None of the fish currently labelled as "3B" show the characteristic markings of a 3B. None of them have clear photographs showing they are shore rocklings not 5B. Therefore all fish will be re-labelled as the default species 5B. Wee Ver, Codfather145 and Toonboymc your scores remain unchanged. Myself, Aquaholic, Mad Rob, Lumpsucker and John Findley already have a 5B so we all lose one point.


I will update the table tonight. For those of you still taking part let's carry on with the hunt

[Geordie-UK]

Sorry, but I've caught over 10 shore rockling in the last 3 weeks, all on roker pier, shore rockling aren't rare, but 3 bearded are, as I have never caught one, I have to admit, before this issue cropped up, I wasn't even aware there was a shore rockling.

To quote from the Marlin site

Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland

Recorded from southwest and northeast England, north Wales and west Ireland but is probably distributed all around Britain and Ireland.

I'm also at a loss as to how there can be any confusion about the shore rockling and 5 bearded, with the 5 bearded, there are two extra whiskers right on the top lip in the middle, this talk of stumps etc baffles me, because there would have to be an awful lot of 5 bearded rockling losing two whiskers which just happen to be the ones on the middle top lip....

As for clear photo's, I endeavour to supply good quality pics, and checking my submission for shore rockling, its crystal clear, so do we get to resubmit if they are clear?

[Geordie-UK]

Turbot



btw, that is an A4 sheet, just under 2lb, and cooking it now

[John findley]

Sand eel for me plz dont know if its greater or lesser?

[Geordie-UK]

Its a greater sand eel

[Thunderpants]

To quote from the Marlin site

Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland

Recorded from southwest and northeast England, north Wales and west Ireland but is probably distributed all around Britain and Ireland.

This is the distribution map from the Marlin site. It shows no recorded shore rocklings in our area. The one they refer to as the "north east" must be the spot near Scarborough i.e. north yorkshire.

do we get to resubmit if they are clear?

You do not need to re-submit as it is only the ones labelled as 3B that have been reviewed and you did not have one of those. The shore rockling you have remains unchanged. People can re-submit if they want and if they can provide clear pictures where there is no doubt it is a shore rockling then they will of course be accepted as such.


For anyone sumbmitting future rockling pics please could you take two photos - one of the whole fish and one close up on the head showing the barbels. This will greatly help with the identification. If the barbels are lying flat against the body they can be made to stand up for the photo by gently running your finger across the top of the head front to back.

[Thunderpants]

Greater Sandeel



Table Updated.
Nice turbot Geordie UK.




.

[Aqua-holic]

Shore rockling

[finding nemo]

Bass used to be very rare this far north, now they are relatively common. Smoothhound are starting to show off the NE coast although still very rare. As for Shore Rockling distribution, these guys are pretty much regarded as the guru's for fish identification and habitat Gaidropsarus mediterraneus, Shore rockling : fisheries

Their distribution map for Shore Rockling clearly shows they are very common in the north sea and off the Norwegian coast and whilst less common can definitely be found in numbers off the NE coast: Computer Generated Distribution Map

This post seems to of been over looked.

I camt believe the other sites claims of shore rockling distribution to be so localized to such small areas

[Thunderpants]

No not overlooked mate I am aware of that one. Hopefully some good will come of this discussion as if we get a lot of definitive photos of shore rocklings from our area I will write to Marlin with the photos and maybe they will update their chart. It would help if people could say where they caught them so I have all the necessary info to do that.

Table updated.

[finding nemo]

I love fishing and everything related to it.

Im obsessed with learning everything i can and as much as some people think im argumentative or at least some posts were took that way my only goal in this full debate was to learn, and for it to be correct for everyones sake

It can only be a good thing. Even if it takes us all year for it to be clear in all our minds.

Contacting them would be a good idea as clearly there is conflicting evidence which has only confused our situation. You would expect all sites like those to be correct.

who would of thought these little critters which in truth are allmost always unwanted catches would open such a big debate.
personally ive enjoyed it.