THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

The nostrils are well separated from each other and from the mouth, the interior of which, as the name
suggests, is very noticeably black. As with other deep water sharks, the eye looks like a green jewel.
With my track record of catching dogfish you would have thought that ticking the black mouthed variety
off my list would be a mere formality.
Unfortunately not so, though I do have first-hand experience of the fish from a number of locations,
including the deep water around Gibraltar where we were fishing for bluemouth. But always on
somebody else's hook. In particular when fishing the common skate grounds either out of Crinan on the
Sound of Jura, or both the Firth of Lorne and Sound of Mull.
Much of my fishing around the Mull area has been from small boats, but there are also a number of
charter boats working out from Oban which overlooks some of the deepest water, and therefore
potentially at least, the best BMD opportunities.
Mackerel feathers baited with small strips of squid are as good a ploy as any. Stick at it for long enough
(or not in my case) and eventually one should come along mixed in amongst the inevitable stream of
LSD's and spurdogs.
MONKFISH Squatina squatina
Bucket List status – result
Monkfish, or angel sharks as we are now
being persuaded to call them, look like an
intermediate stage in cartilaginous fish
evolution from a round body shape to a flat
one, with the monkfish not having made the
full transition, yet.
But neither does it have the full rounded
body profile more typical of sharks, making
it a very difficult fish to put the wrong name
to on account of its broad flattened front end
and shark like hind quarters.
Both the pectoral and the pelvic fins are
extended horizontally outwards, but unlike
in the skates and rays, these are not fused to
the head, therefore creating only a semi-ray
like profile. On the other hand, in common
with the skates and rays, the two small dorsal
fins are situated well back towards the tail.
Dawn Williams, 55 pound Monkfish
There is no anal fin on the underside, and
unusually amongst sharks, with which, as the
name angel shark suggests, this fish is
classed, the lower lobe of the caudal fin or
tail is slightly longer than the upper, and is a
true upright fin.
The eyes are very noticeably small and set well apart from the spiracles. Colouration is usually some
shade of sandy brown to grey with a light flecked pattern depending on substrate and location.
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