What Is This Fish?

[elton]

Just received an email that began, "i spent a few hours on Amble pier last week and my g/f landed a fish that I have never seen before...."

Anyone able to help?

 

[codseeker]

maybe a puffer fish

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

I saw that fish come out of Powerhouse in Town..........

Pufferfish? I don't reckon it's one of them....Looks almost Bream/Wrasse/Sea Scorpion like...in truth I haven't got a clue.

I tried googling "pink fish" but got some strange answers

 

[Stuey]

looks just like a lumpsucker, though very pink. They are normally dark back and white sides going to orange tinged belly.

Maybe it is its breeding colours or something?

regards

Stu

 

[Charlton]

lumpsucker

 

[MickA]

Certainly looks like a Lumpsucker but bit of an odd colour. They can go orangey/red when in breeding colour but pink's a bit odd.

 

[Vamp]

fish

fish

i googled it and i think its a lump sucker as this was the only pic i could find that looked like it why its pink no idea,possibly what micka says about breeding,nice fish tho

http://www.angling.ukf.net/species/rockfish/lumpsucker.jpg

 

[Topfly]

been in the shallows for a bit that one

 

[willywetegg]

Probably just visiting from the middle toilets at Blyth beach then.

Jim.

 

[Topfly]

Tut Tut Jim, Lumpfish caviar mmmmmmm

 

[fishingfanatastico]

fish

fish

seen a similar type of fish whilst lifting a rock over at boulmer, weird looking fish thought it was wrasse like.

 

[Ian Alexander]

Without doubt it's a lumpsucker, some years ago a good few were caught at Shields Pier.
Regards Ian.

 

[mick dunn]

If it was caught near Hartlepool power station i could understand it being pink.

On a serious note can you forward the picture it to some expert say at the national sience museum. The fish looks really rare.

Mick.

 

[codseeker]

i honestly have seen the odd one washed up on the beach ,and look the same colour ,but didnt know the species name

 

[Doc]

As already stated its a lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus)

As a general rule the species varies quite significantly in colouration, which is why color is never a good method to identify fish, especially if there are considerable variation between the sexes of individual species (e.g. Cuckoo wrasse and dragonets). In this instance, the image shows a male, which turn a varied shade of red when entering the breeding cycle (or state), such colouration can vary between deep red to bright orange. Perhaps this little male was a bit confused as to his true sexuality, and came out a bit pink!!!!! Although flourescent pink is probably closer to the mark.

We had a few lumpsuckers in a survey earlier in the year, this one was a female, but the image shows the range of colour even in the more mundane females which can vary between dark blue to torquoise.

Doc.

 

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

Striking colours ,I'm always amazed.

 

[5150]

yes Lumpsucker, I remember there was loads of them caught in the mid 1970's when I was a kid and fishing amble pier with my dad. Seem to go through phases where they're as common as muck then you hardly see any for a lot of years.

I also remember another odd one for the area about 10yrs back, was a hell of a lot of Dragonets being caught off Blyth pier one summer, had only seen one once before in my life then one day hods of them.

 

[northeast1]

Yer am abit late reading this thread but its a male lumpsucker in his breading colours. Caught 2 from shields pier last year going for coalie.

 

[TerryC]

This time of year they come into shallow water to lay eggs. Both the male and female guard the eggs , usually attached under an overhanging rock. I found a pair of fish once in a large pool north side of of Cullercoats harbour on a big tide. (I was looking for plunders) The eggs were attached to a rock , creamy yellow and about the size of a rice crispie.

 

[Red5]

Agree with everything said, male lumpsucker, they're usually much smaller than the females. Like 5150 said I remember 80's there was one year where you couldn't get shifted for them. The beach at Boulmer was full of them and their eggs.
If I remember rightly (was a kid at the time) it was a pretty rough summer with many a big sea. Think the same year there was a container ship lost its load of timber (telegraph poles)overboard and the kids of the village were told that if the wood was recovered there was a £1 bounty per pole. We managed to get a couple of dozen stashed below me house (the pub) but some fisherman twocked them for himself. The ****!