Unfortunate wee huss...

Sat 19 Feb 11, a friends 13 year old son went with a friend to Waterfoot pier today in Co Antrim to fish. He returned home with a dead dogfish which he caught. I'm almost certain its a wee huss, going by its colouration and the nostril flaps? It was only 62 cm long, probably just a bit smaller than the average LSD .

A while after getting home he said he wished he'd let it go. He's very interested in fishing and he saw the error of his ways, unprompted even at that early age.

Nice wee fish, pity.

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Sad when people don't know what they're doing, or what they're killing....
I'm sure he won't do it again.

hi catgalher id say its a huss too but some of them are hard to tell apart. the young angler has learnt a important lession on his own . and catch and release is the only way to go. and id say he will show this on his next session. . tight lines.

Nice detailed pic. Interested to see the replies from the pros. I'm not experienced enough to say what exactly it is but I know doggies have one whole flap at the front but this fellas are separated by skin. Bring on the debate. (Watch out for the guy that puts the picture of an open can of worms up... )

Cheers Jayball, is my post a can of worms????

I remember lookin at a diagram of the difference in the nostrils, I think the LSDs have a slit that goes right inside the mouth while the slits on the huss stop short of the mouth and turn towards each other creating flaps, thats what I think Im seeing on this boy?

Overall the fish -at first glance looked peculiar, not like a normal doggie, its not that I havent seen bigger huss before but Im way more familiar, as most people probably are with the LSD.

Cheers Jayball, is my post a can of worms????

Haha not at all. This has come up a few times and there's a guy on here that puts up a picture of an open can of worms. Very funny. Cant remember his username. I fell victim to him last year when I started out although I think your post is the most interesting one with a very detailed, clear photo of the nasal flaps.

[saving private brian]

i think its just a dog cathal.the 13 year old was prob so delighted to take a fish home to show.i can understand that and so shud everyone and also to point out it was a dog.if it was a small bass or seatrout cod etc. it wud be differnt.atleast he knows from know on to realise and the important meanings of the fishes life too.hopefully this will keep him intersted and he will have a long happy fishing career/hobbie.please all dont make this into a big thing like wat was done to seanie35 a while back.well done cathal and company.a fish is a fish

Last edited by saving private brian on Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Told ya ....

A Rock Salmon Seeing as it is dead you might as well cook it and eat it. Very Tasty actually ....

I would'nt be too hard on the kid, there is absolutely no harm in taking a fish home for the pot. Its not all about competitions, points , and rivalry sometimes it is quite nice to go out do some fishing, take a few home cook and eat them as long as its done in a sustainable fashion.........

Sat 19 Feb 11, a friends 13 year old son went with a friend to Waterfoot pier today in Co Antrim to fish. He returned home with a dead dogfish which he caught. I'm almost certain its a wee huss, going by its colouration and the nostril flaps? It was only 62 cm long, probably just a bit smaller than the average LSD .

A while after getting home he said he wished he'd let it go. He's very interested in fishing and he saw the error of his ways, unprompted even at that early age.

Nice wee fish, pity.

Not sure about error of his ways.... bit overkill by the PC brigade (not directed at you but in general).

Its a fish... he angled it... people catch a lot more than that and have done so for thousands of years! I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping your catch as long as it is legal and ethical?

But besides the ethical argument there is also an ecological argument to make for targeting these species of fish. Like it or not, overfishing of certain species (bass, cod etc) have led to an abundant source of food in some area's and dogfish have colonised these same area's taking advantage of the food source. In certain area's the dogfish have all but eliminated all other species by eating the juveniles species. Waterford estuary and harbour is apparently a well documented example of this where dogfish have decimated tiny codling.

The underwater ecosystem is a firmly balanced scale and what you do to one side affects the other. If you kill or remove one species you must be prepared to balance the rest out. If you take the odd Bass or cod for the pot you must realise that their position in the food chain is not just empty but it will be replaced. In this case possibly by a dogfish. It would be sensible to take other species for the pot the next time you go fishing and limit your impact on a delicate ecosystem of a cove or bay.

Dogfish, wrasse, mullet etc. are all fine eating fish, in some places they would be favoured over bass and cod!! A healthy ocean is a balanced one.

Well done to the kid, in my book the only error would be not eating this fine fish.

Thanks for all the responses. Its a small huss, thanks for the diagram red, it confirmed my original thought that it was not an LSD, sorry Brian!!

Not just on the mouth thing but the caudal fin and anal/ventral? fin thing also, they both say huss. I'll stick on a wee photo for comparison with the diagram above.

I ate an LSD once before. It was ok but Im in no rush to do it again. I wont be eating the huss, and neither will its captor, not a chance. If you set him down the finest bass, monkfish or turbot he would screw his face up in disgust so the chances of him eating this? More chance of him bringing it back to life.

Na its not going to be eaten by anyone around here, I have quite a few takers for mackerel, pollack, trout etc but theres no one I could tempt with a dog. Thats why I agreed with his sentiment that it would have probably been wiser to let it go. There was no issue made of it, dont get me wrong, I just agreed with him, that was it.

I personally work on the perogative that if you arent going to eat it then you shouldnt really be killing it. It wasnt about conservation and it wasnt meant to open that big wriggling can above . Let me quickly add, I did the same thing myself just to impress me Da when I was this young fellas age.

I can accept a young boy takin a fish home, its perfectly understandable, no biggie. But I think I was impressed by him even having the thought that maybe there was no need to kill it. I think thats why I posted what I did.

Donnyboy1 thanks for stating that re too many dogs in places. It is difficult to catch anything other than LSDs when bait fishing from an anchored boat in the sea here. Ive been saying for some years now that it must take a massive amount of food to support the zillions of LSDs out there, kinda wondering how any other species get a bite to eat at all. AND as you say they are scoffing large no.s of juveniles of other species too. Thats the first time Ive seen or heard anyone express this concern (of sorts). By **** they must get through some food. The sea bed must be a desert. If anything moves a muscle therell be a doggie ready to pounce. The sea is becoming a monoculture around here. It sucks.

i think its just a dog cathal.the 13 year old was prob so delighted to take a fish home to show.i can understand that and so shud everyone and also to point out it was a dog.if it was a small Bass or seatrout cod etc. it wud be differnt.atleast he knows from know on to realise and the important meanings of the fishes life too.hopefully this will keep him intersted and he will have a long happy fishing career/hobbie.please all dont make this into a big thing like wat was done to seanie35 a while back.well done cathal and company.a fish is a fish

Liken this response, good stuff Brian, I think he was a bit excited, and I think its the biggest thing he's ever caught so evryone is allowed to show off a catch of this importance at 13 years of age. He's thinking about the dcision he made and weighing it up, thats the good bit. It seems this thing is a wee huss after all.

hi catgalher id say its a huss too but some of them are hard to tell apart. the young angler has learnt a important lession on his own . and catch and release is the only way to go. and id say he will show this on his next session. . tight lines.

Dan, thats what impressed me- the on his own bit. Thanks.

Fair play to him for catching it, I'd have been over the moon at that age! Hope he keeps it up!

'Think the LSDs have a slit that goes right inside the mouth while the slits on the huss stop short of the mouth and turn towards each other creating flaps, thats what I think Im seeing on this boy?'

What is an LSD?

'Think the LSDs have a slit that goes right inside the mouth while the slits on the huss stop short of the mouth and turn towards each other creating flaps, thats what I think Im seeing on this boy?'

What is an LSD?

Lesser Spotted Dogfish

good clean fish there i never know which is a huss i take a pic on the phoe and look it up online

Hi,

red I wasnt aware of that means of distinguishing, the tail thing. I looked at the fish, I have it here. Heres a couple of pics showing the rear edge of the bottom fin reaching well into the middle of the fin on top. According to your diagram red this means Huss, thanks again. As far as I can see the snout in my pic above looks more like the gsd's in red's diagram.

After Donnyboy1's saying about doggies hoovering up a lot of food in parts of the sea inc juvenile cod etc, I looked the stomach contents. A lot of clear gunge in there, a surprisingly big folded up bit of dead lookin seaweed and what appears to be part of the beak of a pretty big squid, small octopus or maybe even a cuttlefish?

Can anyone help me ID the brown beak below?

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LSD on Weed... sounds like a hippyfish to me...