Short Spined Sea Scorpion

I caught one of these when fishing recently in Doagh, Nr Downings, Co Donegal.

At first I couldn't identify it as I'd never seen one previously, however, I took it home and checked with my 'Species Book' and was 95% convinced of its species then by coincidence I was reading a magazine which had a very good picture of one and I could then be 100% sure.

I have noticed that this site does not have the fish identified in its list of species. I also looked in my IFSA diary and noticed that there is no listing, specimen or record weights registered either for the species.

Does this indicate that it is just not considered a sufficiently worthy species to be listed, is it an oversight, or are they rare?

Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera and didn't get a photo of the fish (which sat on a plate in my kitchen for a day).

Looking for some advice here. Is it worth recording details of such a catch, sending it in to the IFSA, sending a photo into this site, etc?

Maybe they are not rare at all, but if they are then I'm going back to Doagh to try and get another!

Cheers,

Arthur

Also known as '' the bull rout or father lasher'' !!

Rare over 9 inches in length. My book also says that British record is 2 lb 3 oz. Caught Scotland.

Now Doagh - I met a lady there called Majella. She was so nice - no catch though.


Peter

Hi Arthur, Peter

I did not put it up on the site on account of the vast number of sea scorpions that are available in Irish Waters - all quite small - and specifically the difficulty in identifying between the species. I do have one scorpion up - the largest found in Irish Waters and by far the most common...

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/fish ... culpin.htm

It is known as a stony cobbler down in the south east... but then I've just found out that red cod (caught in kelp) are called Tamlin around Cork!!!

We have a brand new member, Declan, who is a marine biologist and has joined the forum specifically to help keep track of rare and new species, so he would be very interested. I can PM you his email address if you like...

FWIW...

Thanks folks.

I didn't realise that they were common - it was new to me!

If I get a good one I'll photograph it and send it in. Since I intend returning to Diagh for Wrasse again I might just find another one.

Kieran - I can only find two species - short and long spined. Are there others?

Hi Arthur

BTW good luck in Sligo tomorrow. I am off to Rossanrubble to try a new mark reputedly to offer thornies and bull huss alongside flats, dogs etc.

Yep, loads of them. Try http://www.fishbase.org and type in Scorpionfish and Ireland and see what you get! The biggest is a new ISFC addition, known colloquially as a Bluemouth. Deep water and quite rare but quite big too.

Tight lines

Shorthorn sculpin is another name for short spined bullhead.

I caught two of these in the past year, one in Bulloch harbour and this greedy one which took the whole worm and hook in Greystones.

[img]http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v310/davehaddock/ssss.jpg[/img]

Just back from my annual 2 week pilgrimage to the west coast - fishing off Mallaranny pier last Tuesday I had a fearsome bite on lugworm which turned out to be the biggest one of these b*****s I've ever seen or ever wish to see, must have weighed nigh on a pound. They're very common on the south coast of England but usually only about 3 inches long.