I found Nemo!
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Sunday 20 October 2013 08:52
This was the first fish I caught yesterday whilst rock pooling at St Mary's Lighthouse and I soon realised I was looking at a young Lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus!!! It was only the size of a pea but there is no other possibility with the shape and the suction cup underneath. I have wanted to see this fish ever since I bought a guide to the sea shore when I was on holiday in Wales as a kid. If you look at the UK distribution on the NBN Gateway, it is well known from this stretch of the English coast line. In cellebration of my little Lumpsucker, have a listen to this.
I wasn't completely sure so I wanted to rule out Montagu's Sea Snail so I googled a few images of this species before carrying on dipping. Guess what the next fish I pulled out was?!
I watched the Montagu's Sea Snail change colour from an almost yellow to a dark brown in a matter of seconds.
I caught one wrasse which in the field I thought was Rock Cook but in hindsight I think this one is likely to be a young Ballan Wrasse, Rock Cook is very much a west coast thing and it doesn't have the right amount of spines on the anal fin. Quite obviously not the Corkwing that we see down south but as with the other two fish, I only caught one of this species. There are records of Ballen from St Mary's too so I'm happy with that.
Long-spined Sea Scorpion
Butterfish
Shanny
Two-spot Goby
Ballen Wrasse
Montague's Sea Snail
Lumpsucker
Gurnard/Dragonet? sp.
I also added Common Brittlestar Ophiothrix fragilis. Four new fish and a new starfish!
Get to the furthest low tide Graeme and see male Lumpsuckers in bright pink the size of a grapefruit guarding the eggs....fantastic. They seem to come up to the surface to gulp air?