NESA Species Hunt 2013

[lumpsucker]

Wouldn't mind a bit o milf myself!

[Bassboyo]

Wouldn't mind a bit o milf myself!

Lol ;-) man I love fishing ha ha

[Thunderpants]

John, just to confirm. Although they are both Sea Scorpions they are different species of Sea Scorpion. The Long Spined/Short Spined bit of the name can be misleading as there's not a lot in it. The best way to tell them apart in a photograph is to show the gill membrane underneath so bear this in mind if you catch one and taking a picture of it's underside will make it easier to identify. The other way to tell is size - if it's a biggun it's a short spined as the long spined one only grows to 18cm. Hope this helps.

We had similar problems last year with the different blennies (including eelpout which is not actually a blenny at all but is sometimes called a viviparous blenny which can add to the confusion) and with rocklings. When put to the vote the majority wanted all rocklings to count as only one since it was difficult to identify the type from some of the photographs. I caught three species of rockling last year but only ended up with one point This year we are doing it properly one point per species so if anyone get's all three they will get three points. Same goes for other fish types.

[John findley]

Yeah no probz .could u change me roklin to a 3b roklin thunder pants.hope a havnt had any other roklin coz av been throwing them all back as a thought there was just one type

[John findley]

What's the three types ov roklin?

[Bassboyo]

What's the three types ov roklin?

Three beard , five beard and shore

I don't catch a lot of these so not great at identifying. The five beard is obvious as its got 5 barbules. The 3 beard and shore both have 3 barbules.
Looking at the following info maybe we need all of our rockling to be changed to shore rockling including mine. With future photos that must include a clear shot of the head / body.
What do the mods think ??

http://www.lymeregissac.co.uk/Rockling%20ID.htm

[John findley]

How u identify the shore roklin?

[Thunderpants]

Yes based on the link from Bassboyo I agree that it is a shore rockling not a three beard and I think yours is as well John. I will change those two on the table. Lumpsucker's rockling looks like it is a three beard as his photo seems to faintly show the leopard spots along its back.

Bassboyo's link - how to identify the different types of rockling LRSAC Official Website

[lumpsucker]

The website in Boyos post has some very good photos. it looks like mine was a shore, not 3b,, judging by those pics. Bonny looking slug that 3b!! Wouldn't mind one of them. Are they all that vividly coloured, or does it vary? Probably hybrids inbetween too to make things trickier. Anyone eaten a rockling by the way? The snot might crisp up nicely

[Thunderpants]

Lumpsucker are those faint spots along it's back in your pic can you remember if it had them? That would make it a three beard. However, if you are still sure it's a shore rockling then I will change it to that. Just let me know what you think.



Shore Rockling .....



Three Bearded Rockling ....

[lumpsucker]

Was Defo a shore mate, v. Plain looking in comparison to those tasty looking ones. Yum yum

[Thunderpants]

Ok will put it down as a shore rockling then.

[Bassboyo]

Ok will put it down as a shore rockling then.

Pants of thunder , is there any chance of enabling the thanks button on posts please

[Thunderpants]

I can't mate, you have to be a moderator to do that.

[Bassboyo]

I can't mate, you have to be a moderator to do that.

Could you ask one please