oh Blenny where art thou?

hi gents

I am in denmark at the moment and met a fellow scientist who works on antifreeze proteins in fish.

he is interested in variation in anti freeze peptides among localised populations of what the danes call ell pout. we would call them blenny, there also called viviparous blenny as they give birth to live young.

the guy would be interested in coming to ireland in feb or march to collect a few to extract protein samples and i was wondering if anyone could help point me to a few places where they can be found (the more certain you are that they are there that time of year the better).

the fish he is after are not the tiny tiny blenny that you see in rock pools , rather he is after the slightly larger ones that can be up to four or five inches in lenght and are often browish orange. i will put a picture of one up soon. you would get them under weed and such when after peelers

if anyone knows any crab potters who catch them that would be great too

thanks all
adam

adam you'll get them in red rock in sutton, ive seen big ones when picking crab obver 6 inches.

Yep Red Rock in Sutton or the rocks just north of Portmarnock. I've got a 4" one in an aquarium but you aint having him i'm afraid.

Slugs with fins! One I caught at St Helens.

[img]http://albums.boards.ie/data/3025/medium/710shanny.jpg[/img]

thanks a million all.

davy i dont need all of him just his blood :D

thanks again gents.

Adam.

hi

thanks to everyone who relied

just wanted to bring this back up, this time of year is the perfect time to get these samples as they weather is still cold so anti freeze proteins will be present ih high levels (levels will being to drop in march)

I would particularly like any other locations in the dublin/wicklow area..so far i have pertmarnock and sutton.

anymore would be greatly apprectited

some info here if anyone is interested in the subject

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifreeze_protein

and the link to the lab that is doing the research

http://virgil.ruc.dk/~cryolab/

there is a picture here

http://www.azote.se/index.asp?b=2&str=a ... b=&this=55

thanks in advance
Adam

I think alot of you guys are thinking of shannys which are different from blennies ,shanny has 2 dorsal fins as opposed to a single dorsal fin on a blennie

Ronald you`ve made a boob :roll: gobies have 2 dorsals.blennies which includes shannys(cos it is a blenny) have 1 dorsal.

ah well we cant all be perfect :wink: :lol: :lol:

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yeah there is lot of confusion generally in the naming of this genera. the top pic of davys is a shanny or rock pool blenny, different species from the viviparous . the viviparous is what we are after (its longer and bigger and has a more elongated dorsal than the shanny) but any realyy big shannys would do too, the larger ones need to produce anti freeze proteins in bigger amounts so a really big one would do in a pinch

There`s loads of shannys up here in Bangor Adam,some of them close to 6 inches long,but its prob too far away to be of any use to you.Stop me if im wrong but if im not mistaken the Viviparous Blenny you`re talking isn`t a "blenny" at all,more like a cross between a rockling(minus the barbels) and an eel.

adam you'll get them in the rockpools in red rock , try the pools in between the mussell beds, they get stranded at low tide, ive seen very big ones at say nearly 7-8 inches.

hi thanks again all

davy yeah they do look a bit like that alright, but they are a species of blenny.

So, How many species of Blenny are targetable around our Coast?

So, How many species of Blenny are targetable around our Coast?

shanny,butterfish(gunnel),tompot blenny,yarrell`s blenny.there are a few more species but they are uncommon and southerly

Caught a viviparous blenny in the Tyne at Walker in the early '90s but have never seen one this side of the Irish sea.

web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/pages/eelpout.htm

wicklow pier maybe worth a try... heres one from there, about 6 inches , think its a tompot, not sure if its the type you want.......

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hi

thats a tompot alright, but thats ok , a big tompot would do. thanks for all the suggestions, much appreciated

Hi Adam,

I know it's a stretch, but that strand I was collecting hardbacks on in Kerry had plenty of Blennys and some very big ones. It's a long drive, but hey, It's Kerry :D

Kev

im on my way kev :D , its an option alright , he wants as many from different areas as he can, thanks

I'll give you a bell with the name of the strand.

Kev