fish id

a fellow contacted me to try and id a fish he caught in connemara,it was a new one to me,after a bit of research I thought it might be a Fifteen-spine Stickleback,am I right with the id?

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Thats mad looking, never saw one of those before

I think you are bang on with your ID. Caught one in rockpool last Mon night with a bucket, 13cm long but not as fat as that one. Possibly egg laden?

Your right gerry its a fifteen spined stickleback, I used to catch them in the rock pools along with the three spined ones. That one does look like it had a good feed or else full of eggs although I thought they only spawn during the summer months.

Mad looking fish

Yes a mad looking fish indeed.

It shows why the Hart "leech" and the Illex "nitro" are effective bass lures.

Fifteen spine stickleback

Identification:
this wholly marine species has between 14 and 16 dorsal spines, 2 pelvic spines and a single anal spine. Body shape is eel-like with the dorsal and anal fins set well back along the body close to the very long and thin caudal peduncle. Pelvic fins are reduced to one spine only.
The head is long and tubular and a brown stripe runs through the eye.
Both sexes are a mottled dark brown along the upper part of the body and light brown to white below.
Breeding:
takes place May to August. Males build a large nest amongst the eelgrass from the middle shore downward. The eggs and fry from a number of females are guarded by the male.

Habitat:
smaller fish are found in rock pools on the middle to lower shore. Larger fish tend to stay in deeper water and only return to the shore to breed.

Food:
they eat worms and crustaceans.

Range:
common around the coasts of Britain and Western Europe

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http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/page ... eback.html

if i caught that id nearly be afraid to pick it up.mad r wat

Heres the one I got in a rockpool last Sun night (Sunday 12th Dec, not Mon as stated above). 13.2cm long, the biggest one Ive seen but I see online they can get up to 20cm. Believe it or not there is a uk record (rod caught) at 7grams. I got mine with a bucket. Wonder is there an Irish record? I doubt if the specimen committee have bothered with them yet.

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that is a greater pipe fish i get them in my sandeel net all the time

15 spine stickleback. convinced that is defo not a pipefish

http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformat ... esID=4352#

that is a greater pipe fish i get them in my sandeel net all the time

Funny you should mention it lanky, that is exactly what I thought it was when I first glimpsed it in the pool but its definitely the 15 spine, no question. It was the length made me think pipe fish at the start. Just a bigger than average stickleback for the pools I got it in.

Unfortunately in all the shots I took of it both in the water and out, there is not one where you can see the spines standing up. In the 2nd shot above, the side of the fish if you look at its back you can just see the collapsed spines like a row of tiny bumps.

Pipefish is much more like a shoe lace, without spines. The heads on both arent disimilar though.

Cheers.

crazy looking fish,never seen one those

thanks for all the replies,I had forgotten about this post the lad that was looking for the id told me it was summer time when he caught it and he did think it was full of eggs,he released it again
its interesting to see how many lads have never seen one before and its classed as a common fish along our shores
one great thing about sea fishing is that it can surprise you at any time

what a fish looks exotic! There are some really odd looking but beautiful fish in irish waters