Isles of Scilly Fish and Fisheries - Cornwall Wildlife Trust

achyura) are scarce and Common Stingrays (Dasyatis pastinaca) are rare. Much of
the catches are of Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), M. merlangus, G. morhua,
and medium to small L. piscatorius; with M. surmuletus, Tub Gurnard (Chelidonichthys
lucernus), E. gurnardus, Hake (Merluccius merluccius), and John Dory (Zeus faber).
Varying amounts of the small red Boarfish (Capros aper) are to be found here.
“The Banks” sandbank to the south of St Mary’s is an area that attracts anglers in the
summer months for M. merlangus, G. morhua, M. surmuletus, A. cuculus as well as
the S. scombrus and T. trachurus that can be caught over the bank (D. Townend, pers.
comm., 2010).
8.6) Seagrass beds (BAP habitat)
The extensive beds of eel grass Zostera marina are a major feature of the Isles of
Scilly complex SAC. The fish community within these beds is similar to that of the
sandflats and the fish recorded from the Isles of Scilly Zostera beds are P. pollachius,
L. bergylta, C. melops, T. bulbalis, C. lyra, G. flavescens and P. microps (ERCCIS,
2010 and Parslow, 2000). The Zostera beds were much more extensive, dense and
luxuriant before the global outbreak of wasting disease in the 1930s and at that time it
is said that large C. conger lived in tunnels under the rhizome masses (S. Walder, pers.
comm., 2009).
It has been widely assumed that seagrass beds form the principal habitat of seahorses
Hippocampus spp. but recent work (Garrick-Maidment, 2007) has shown that whilst
this is a major habitat, both British species can be found in a wider variety of biotopes.
ERCCIS only holds two records of Hippocampus in Scilly and neither of these gives
the habitat, however the location of one of a Short-snouted Seahorse Hippocampus
hippocampus from 1982 is “probably Tresco” and could be from an area of Zostera.
8.7) Subtidal Mud
While there are patches of mud in Crow Sound (D. Thompson, pers. comm., 2010)
nothing is known about their fauna. An area about 12 nautical miles west of the
Bishop Rock is a more significant mud habitat. Before the 2008 amendment to the
Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 (WCA) and the subsequent fisheries regulations
that prohibited the landing of skates and certain rays, this area was fished with
longlines and nets for D. batis and large Raja spp., including R. clavata.
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