THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

appears to be a smiling face as their lips are pulled back revealing the four guillotine like teeth from
which they take their family name tetraodontidae, tetra being the Greek word for four.
A rare fish in northern European waters, though the odd specimen is reported from time to time in the
western approaches to the English Channel. These are thought to be occasional migrants encouraged by
a combination of high water temperatures and passive distribution on favourable currents.
Evidence of this distribution, and their willingness to take an angler's bait has been shown with
specimens taken as far north and east as Chesil Beach on the Dorset coast. The fact that it is a pelagic
feeder when in coastal waters may however be artificially suppressing the true picture, though very
likely, not by any great margin.
Visually, the puffer fish should be an interest raising catch with its rather flat dorsal profile and deeply
rounded abdomen which is covered with distinct spines up to a line from the anal fin to the chin, unlike
the upper part of the body which is spine free and feels smooth.
When alarmed, as the name suggests, it will inflate its body to some degree (though not as much here
as with some tropical varieties) causing the spines to stand off erect.
Both the anal and dorsal fins are short and placed well back towards the tail. The mouth has two teeth
in each jaw giving the impression almost of a beak. Feeding is mainly directed towards small fish,
crustaceans and squids. Colouration is deep greyish blue over the upper surface, giving way suddenly
to a distinctive white below.
A very rare fish at our latitudes, though increasingly common further to the south. My only personal
experience of this particular species is from specimens we caught on small baits while boat fishing off
the coast of Gambia in west Africa.
LUMPSUCKER Cyclopterus lumpus
Bucket List status – no result yet
This is another of those species which
nobody is really likely to confuse with
anything else. A fish with an almost
pre-historic look. The body shape is
not unlike that of a mis-shaped, scaleless,
over inflated rugby-football
armoured with bony plates, the largest
being arranged into four distinct rows
on each side of the body, one of which
is sited on top of the hump in front of
the dorsal fin in mature fish.
On the underside between the pectoral
fins, the pelvic fins have fused together
to form that famous and highly efficient sucker disc from which the species takes its well deserved
name.
Colouration is usually a dull deep greyish green with paler lower regions when offshore. However,
during the breeding season, which is when most lumpsuckers will be seen by anglers, the males become
more blue on their back and upper flanks, shading to orange-red on their lower flanks and underparts.
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