Hag fish??? Or was it ????

[tich]

just caught this thing!!!! it was about 6/8inch long ,pinkish eel like thing, with small black eyes..It made a right yuccy,guncky slimeball,yakky just horrable X10 mess on the end of my rig, Slime I have seen nothing like it lucky for me it spat the hook and Col with his size 10 waders despatched it to the sea.. All terminal tackle was despatched to a polly bag and disposed of.......Any ideas ps caught from W/B pipe Friday rag/maccy just on low tide ......11 30am

[TC]

YEP Tich - HAGFISH !

I\'ve had dozens of \'em, m8.

One of the nastiest slimiest, gunkiest things to come out of the sea (errmm, no offence meant to any Hagfish who may be reading this).

I get plagued by them in the Summer months when fishing Shields Pier.
Best (and often the only) thing to do, is to cut the whole snood off.

I think the \"eyes\" you mention, may well have been a couple of the \"barbs\" around its mouth - Hagfish eyes aren\'t visible.

The amount of gunk they can produce in a few seconds is amazing - and it sets like fast drying cement.



You may find this site interesting (or you may find it TOTALLY stomache churning) - either way - make sure you\'ve had your tea BEFORE you look at it

http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/hagfish/hagfishathome.html

Did you know that in the Far East they are actually \"farmed\" for their meat? Apparently, hundreds of tonnes of the stuff are consumed each year. Give me a mince pie any day !!!!


[Edited on 28/12/2003 by TC]

[Edited on 28/12/2003 by TC]

[LING_BASHER]

Yep your right tony.I have never seen so many hagfish caught in my 18 years of fishing as this year.Must be something up

[TC]

Possibly another indication of climate change and global warming, Richy.

The blurb I\'ve read about Hagfish says that they are common in \"chilly waters of the antitropical regions, both North and South\"

As you will know, the waters around the British Ises are warmed by the Gulf Steam - perhaps the prevelance of the Hagfish is an idication that the Gulf Streams\' path is being shortened and the waters around our coastline are cooling as a result.
I\'m no scientist, but I\'ve noticed that several previously uncommon species are being caught more regularly.

[silvers]

Resembles wor lass lol

[willywetegg]

I must have been lucky up till now, have never seen one never mind caught one.

[jason]

looking at the above link - i always said the far east and students would eat any thing that is cheap or free. Suppose it beats baked bean toasties.

jason