THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

SHORE ROCKLING Gaidropsarus mediterraneus
Bucket List status – no result yet
As with the other rocklings, an
elongate fish with one long
continuous anal fin and two
dorsal fins, the first being a single
ray followed by a series of very
much shorter rays.
A fish with three barbels or
'beards', of which two are on the
snout and the third on the chin, all
of which means there is only one
other fish, the three bearded
rockling to potentially confuse it
with, and only then with some
difficulty.
The shore rockling is usually some shade of deep brown and is un-patterned, whereas the three bearded
rockling is pink or red with lots of brown leopard like spots all over its body.
Personally, I have never seen one, with the photograph used here coming from shore match angler and
species hunter Andy Copeland, who uses LRF along his native north east coast and elsewhere to come
up with all manner of small unusual species, several of which have provided illustrations for this book.
Said to be a fish primarily of the southern and western coastal and inshore waters of England, Wales
and Ireland, recorded specimens have come from locations as widely scattered as Loch Long on the
Clyde, Milford Haven, and the Weymouth area, at least one of which has exceeded one and a half
pounds.
THE FLATFISHES
Before getting too deeply into the nitty gritty of the individual flatfish species, I feel it's important here
to say a little bit first about general flatfish biology, which, as will become clear, has implications for
catching them on rod and line too, because feeding habits, and therefore angling approach, very much
revolve around the two distinct biological divisions brought about by their physical layout.
The eggs of flatfish and their early stage fry are pelagic. This means they float and live in the upper to
surface water layers where the planktonic soup is richest, and therefore best able to support the early
feeding of a great many species of fish. In that respect, certainly at this stage in their lives, flatfish and
many round fish species are not that dissimilar.
They differ little in certain other respects too, particularly just after hatching, when flatfish fry are
exactly the same as round fish fry, with round slender bodies, and their eyes situated either side of the
head.
It's only after the yolk sac has been absorbed that physical differences begin to appear, starting with a
progressive deepening of the body shape when the tail shows very early signs of forming, and both the
dorsal and anal fin rays begin to develop, leading to very noticeable signs of flattening. The fin rays
also grow longer to the extent of actually pushing up into a median fold of flesh which will eventually
become the fringing fins.
133