Has anybody every seen these before??

[chuckaroo]

I was fishing N.Donegal again yesturday in the hope of a turbot - BLANK! again (must still be too early in the year for them yet )
but anyway!, when i casted into a certain bay my baits kept coming back totally covered in these wee creatures!
has anybody had this experience before?
does anybody know what they are??


(hope yous like the wee vid too )

[chuckaroo]

here's the wee video i took of them too...
they were about 5mm in lenght

http://youtu.be/hW4rMPFweWw

[roooster]

sand hoppers is what i call them,i normally see them at some beachs,mainly ones with alot of sand & mostly at night...
think they like the rotting sea weed,caught a bass before that had belly full of them.

[JOHN1]

They look like they are young SEA SLATERS (Ligia oceanica)

[myworldfishing]

Sand fleas, them little feckers get everywhere.

[wayne riley]

id say sand flees.

[chuckaroo]

sand hoppers is what i call them,i normally see them at some beachs,mainly ones with alot of sand & mostly at night...
think they like the rotting sea weed,caught a Bass before that had belly full of them.

thanks for the reply roooster but im pretty sure that these are not sand hoppers..
i am very familiar with sand hoppers and these were different altogether. for starters, they did not hop, they merely crawled. and these guys were 'far' from shore out in the water, sand hoppers are meant to live along the shoreline.
also, sand hoppers are known for eating decaying seaweed, and they latched on to this fresh mackerel.
they just didnt look the same, at all
cheers

They look like they are young SEA SLATERS (Ligia oceanica)

thought of them being immature sea slaters too John, thanks for the response.
i wasnt totally convinced though because they just didnt resemble the slaters enough! And sea slaters do not live in the water, they live above the high tide mark. i might have to look into it a bit more..

Sand fleas, them little feckers get everywhere.

id say sand flees.

thanks for the replies too lads. when you say sand fleas then i assume that you mean sand hoppers? - im just not convinced they were - they didnt jump!
cheers

anybody else seen these before???

[Caz-Galway]

Hi there,

Yes I have seen these before. They are a benthic amphipod. I am not sure of the name, either latin or english, but they are known locally in Connemara as 'Skinners'. All local fishermen will know of them. You get them subtidally around here and if you stick out a bag of dubby on the sea floor, you will get plenty of them. They love fish/flesh and have been held responsible for stripping dead fish left overnight in trammel nets or gill nets. (no this is not an April 1st ask fishermen). This is the closest reference with picture that I could find but its from the Pacific.

http://www.woodbridge.tased.edu.au/MDC/ ... hipods.htm

Hope this helps.

Caz

[twinkle]

i would try sticking a half dozen of them on a hook and see what they catch.i remember fishing dalkey and getting codling with bellies full of seaspiders .we stuck a few back on the hooks and got codling on them.if there in abundance give them a try could be a new superbait for you

[corbyeire]

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... rs#p205668

this was an old report of mine and fishing recently out there, the local population is still flourishing

the fishing is alwasy useless when these lads show up

put the rods back in the car and move somewhere else!

[Creep]

Yep seen them before and I think John is right, was bitten in the ankles by them when fishing during last summer remember the "eyes" (the two black dots near the head) was bloody sore bites as well!! think it was ennerielly i seen them on

[Caz-Galway]

Correction. Benthic Isopod not amphipod. Sorry

Caz

[JimC]

They are called "skinners" down this way too. Prevalent in many areas at different time of the year I'm told.

The first time I heard of them was years ago when a fisherman was lost from Ballycotton. It was said that if he was not found within a few hours then the "skinners" would have him gone. Apparently they eat the flesh more so than the skin. Skin will be all that will be left of a fish in a net.

[pete]

'Suckers' up this way, if your fishing pots you'd have to move ground once they appeared as all you'd get back in the bait bags were fish skeletons. Impressive wee fellas

[twinkle]

sound like little pirranhas wonder could you use them in tanks for weight loss

[corbyeire]

any ideas what preys on them - something to target?

[saving private brian]

there called suckers

[chuckaroo]

'skinners', 'suckers', little benthic isopods... fascinating little things all the same! i never knew they existed. its amazing that I havent come across them before or have heard of other fishermen talking about them more often. but anyway, there you go. cool
there must have been a swarm of them in that little bay then where i was fishing in Donegal. they totally smothered and devoured my baits on every cast. i had to move location when i realised that i wasnt getting any bites after a few hours..

Yes I have seen these before. They are a benthic amphipod. I am not sure of the name, either latin or english, but they are known locally in Connemara as 'Skinners'. All local fishermen will know of them. You get them subtidally around here and if you stick out a bag of dubby on the sea floor, you will get plenty of them. They love fish/flesh and have been held responsible for stripping dead fish left overnight in trammel nets or gill nets. (no this is not an April 1st ask fishermen). This is the closest reference with picture that I could find but its from the Pacific.

<a class="vglnk" title="Link added by VigLink" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.woodbridge.tased.edu.au/MDC/Species%20Register/amphipods.htm">http://www.woodbridge.tased.edu.au/MDC/Species%20Register/amphipods.htm</a>

Hope this helps.

Caz

cheers Caz. a lot of very interesting facts there that i never knew. i have never come across them up my way before
maybe i will get some proper identification of them soon enough. skinners is good enough for me for the moment though. it wasnt only the black eyes, but also the red marks (internal organs?) along their flanks that were really noticeable/distinguishable too. i'll let you know if i find out any more defining info..
thanks for posting

i would try sticking a half dozen of them on a hook and see what they catch.i remember fishing dalkey and getting codling with bellies full of seaspiders .we stuck a few back on the hooks and got codling on them.if there in abundance give them a try could be a new superbait for you

interesting about the sea spiders twinkle. clever. but these wee fellas were/are very very small, about 5-8mm in length. yes, but surely small flatties and wrasse and the like would go for them...
cheers

<a class="vglnk" title="Link added by VigLink" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=26223&p=205668&hilit=skinners#p205668">http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=26223&p=205668&hilit=skinners#p205668</a>

this was an old report of mine and fishing recently out there, the local population is still flourishing

the fishing is alwasy useless when these lads show up

put the rods back in the car and move somewhere else!

thanks corbyeire, i had a look at that report, obviously the same fellas! interesting stuff. the fishing certainly was useless!

They are called "skinners" down this way too. Prevalent in many areas at different time of the year I'm told.

The first time I heard of them was years ago when a fisherman was lost from Ballycotton. It was said that if he was not found within a few hours then the "skinners" would have him gone. Apparently they eat the flesh more so than the skin. Skin will be all that will be left of a fish in a net.

very interesting. cheers Jim. thanks for posting

any ideas what preys on them - something to target?

this was exactly my thoughts too corbyeire. if anything, i thought that i was going to be into a flattie feeding frenzy!! but no, the fishing was grim
i tried spinning through them as well, but nothing. i persisted for a few hours in the area but not even a bite (just 20million very small ones ). i had to move away in the end.
i could well imagine them just torturing fish... and the fish just clearing off!

thanks for all the replies

[cortaz]

Skinners.

[pete]

Did a bit of digging and asked a few folks (thanks for the use of the pic Chuckaroo) and they seemingly are isopods of the genus Eurydice. Not sure which species yet.