Rare and unusual fish in Irish waters

I would like to hear from anglers who have caught any rare and/or unusual fish species in Irish waters. I am a marine biologist who is particularly interested in rare fish. I have published >100 scientific papers on the subject over the last 20 years. Many of the species that I have recorded are in the Natural History Museum in Dublin. If you catch any rare and/or unusual fish, I would be grateful if you would contact me with details such as where and when it was caught. If possible, please retain the fish for examination.... it could be a new species or a species new to Ireland !

Many Thanks,

Declan Quigley
087-9080521
declanquigley@eircom.net

Declan - I remember your articles many years ago on several species, including mullet out of Furnace. What is your opinion on golden grey mullet ?. I witnessed then being landed in Kerry over the last several years, yet the ISFC has not recognised them . Either the species is present ot it isn't. These fish have all the characteristics of golden greys, they are definately not thick-lips. I took a fish to Glasnevin that an english angler caught ,yet it is still not on the list. I know there were similar fish forwarded from Kerry and the Shannon estuary. I can send on pictures - poor quality I'm afraid but you should be able to deduce that it is a golden grey.

Hi Declan, Brian

Declan, can you turn OFF the facility on the initial post where you ask to be notified of responses as (a) it doesn't work (software bug) and (b) it prevents actual responses being listed property on the forum's main page.

Thanks, hopefully the second version of the software will work better!

Hello Brian,

Many thanks for your reply. Your name sound very familiar too !!

Three species of mullet have so far been recorded in Irish waters as follows:

Thick-lipped grey mullet Crenimugil labrosus
Thin-lipped grey mullet Liza ramada
Golden grey mullet Liza aurata

So far, only juveniles of the latter two species have been recorded as follows:

Thin-lipped Grey Mullet (Liza ramada)
Meelick Lake, Killala, Co Mayo, September 1971
Kennedy, M. & Fitzmaurice, P. (1972) Irish Naturalist' Jounal 17: 349-351

Golden Grey Mullet (Liza aurata)
Cork coast
Walsh, A.R. (1993) Irish Naturalists' Journal 25: 255-256.

Given that both of the latter species occur as adults in UK waters, I think that it is reasonable to assume that they may also occur in Irish waters, especially since juveniles of both species have been found here. I guess that this is why the ISFC require the body of all specimen mullet in order to confirm indentification. Did they ever reply to you regarding the identity of your "Golden Grey Mullet" ? What size was it ? I think that the current UK record weights for Liza ramada are 3.175kg (boat) and 2.693kg (shore) and L. aurata 1.286kg (boat) and 1.368kg (shore) respectively.

I dont see any reason why the ISFC could not intoduce a minimum qualifying weight for both L. ramada and L. aurata given that the presence of both species has been confirmed in Irish waters and the fact that record weights for both species have been confirmed in UK waters. However, in my opinion, the ISFC tends to be very conservative, cautious (perhaps autocratic) and very slow to pick up on anglers's views and experiences !

Incidentally, a fourth species of mullet, Mugil cephalus, was recently recorded from UK waters and may also occur in Irish waters (Raey, P.J. 1992 Journal of Fish Biology 40: 311-313).

Best Regards,

Declan