THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Those features alone should set this fish apart from similar species. Colouration varies between greenish
yellow and reddish brown with darker transverse bars. A fish with a dark ring surrounding the eye, an
offshoot from which also reaches to the corner of the mouth.
Again, not exactly an anglers fish, but with the potential to reach a length of twelve inches, always a
possibility, though to counter that, a species found in small isolated pockets around the western
approaches to the English Channel, the northern Irish Sea, and along the mid North Sea coast, where
even at those locations it is said to be very thin on the ground. A coastal but not shore loving fish found
over mixed and rocky substrates where it feeds on small invertebrates.
VIVIPAROUS BLENNY Zoarces viviparus
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The viviparous blenny, or eelpout,
which is probably a more suitable
name as this helps separate it from the
true blennies to which it is only
distantly related, is most commonly
found along North Sea coasts through
into Scandinavia and the Baltic.
An unusual but very straight forward
fish to pin a name to due in the main to
the arrangement of its fins. The long
continuous dorsal fin and not quite as
long anal fin meet at the point where
there should be a tail, but there isn't
one, giving the impression of a
continuous wrap around the fish’s long
narrow body. And just before the point where that missing tail should be, the dorsal fin has a shallow
but noticeable depression in it reminiscent of a portion having been nipped out of it.
Colouration varies with habitat, but is usually yellowish to greyish brown with rows of dark blotches
along the dorsal fin and upper flanks. The pectoral fins are edged in yellow. Unusually, this is also a
fish which, as its scientific name viviparus suggests, gives birth to live young.
Reputedly a very common fish over on the eastern side of the North Sea, whereas here on our side,
despite its size and diet of crustaceans, molluscs and small fish, anglers don't often see it, suggesting
much lower population numbers. Grows to around twenty inches.
CATFISH Anarhichas lupus
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I've listed the catfish or wolf fish as it is also called immediately following on from the blennies, because
in terms of blunt facial profile and body layout, it superficially resembles them. A fish with a single
long dorsal fin and shorter anal fin, both of which terminate at quite a small rounded tail. The pectoral
fins are large, deep, and also rounded.
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