Fish ID

[Nic Mach]

Alright lads, I know that this is probably a complete shot in the dark but worth a try.
I was down on Killiney beach last night having a short session, when I came across what I thought was a large dogfish washed up on shore, on closer inspection it was clearly not a dog fish, there was spikes all along its tail and a few along its whole body. It was very badly decomposed but as I said worth a shot. I am thinking a Thornback Ray, the only thing that is throwing me off is I didn't think they were around the south side of Dublin. The pictures are not the greatest as it was clearly well into the decomposing stage but hope they help.
Cheers lads.

[garymaxima]

hard for me to tell from the photos. i'm a freshwater and marine biology student and i'm sure i could get somebody to look at the pictures. the spines look very similar to those found on thornies alright. there are thornies all along the east coast but they don't seem to be as prolific or caught anywhere near as regularly as they used to be. one guy i was out in a boat with took one along wicklow last summer and kit dunne's 'wicklow charter boats' get a few of them

[ShaneH]

Whats left of a thornie.
plenty to be had from the east coast beaches if you know were and when to fish for them

[JOHN1]

yep the de-winged remains of a thornback ray, i do get quite a few of them from the boat along the east coast,have had a few from the east coast beaches aswell but not as often as id like

[Etihad]

yep the de-winged remains of a thornback ray, i do get quite a few of them from the boat along the east coast,have had a few from the east coast beaches aswell but not as often as id like

That's what it looks like to me too

[mackfish]

A thornie I'd say!..

[JOHN1]

hard for me to tell from the photos. i'm a freshwater and marine biology student and i'm sure i could get somebody to look at the pictures

I was approached by a fisheries officer about 3 years ago on a south wicklow beach,
infact there was 3 of them they split up to check for bass, well i got talking to my lad asking how he got into the job and so on, he told me he got the job because he was a marine bioligist, all was going well untill i caught a smoothound while he was there, then he asked me what the F@@k was that! he had never seen anything like it before:shock:
all i will say is be very carefull who you ask to id these pictures because they will probably not have a clue

[chuckaroo]

i would defo opt for a thornie too
i have seen a dead and rotting cuckoo ray on the shore before and the wings had curled up right in close to the body just like this one (bottom left pic). it must be a thing that happens these type of fish (small rays) when they decompose..
the tail fins look like a ray too and the thorns (big ones the tail and small ones on many areas of the skin) shout thornback

its another of those "hard to know for 100% certain" pics but i would be 90% sure. reckon these guys are right too

its a pity you didnt maybe try and 'unfold' it somewhat, or get more identifying features. but im sure it stank!

[corbyeire]

charlie his wings are gone - lopped off
picture 3 is the giveaway where you can see the skull

[bully78]

It's a Thornie for sure looks like they've thrown the body back after cutting the wings off

[chuckaroo]

charlie his wings are gone - lopped off
picture 3 is the giveaway where you can see the skull

fair enough Brian. you're probably absolutely right. there's just not enough wing there when i look at it again, they were most likely 'lopped off' indeed.
my point being though: the wings of rays curl up when rotting.... you can just see little curled-up stumps of wings there

defo a thornie

and, how do you know something else hasn't been gnawing (e.g. crabs) at those wings - instead of them having been lopped off..?

[samo]

They use the de-winged ray in the lobster pots so it might have come from one of them that was broken up during the storms.

[Nic Mach]

They use the de-winged ray in the lobster pots so it might have come from one of them that was broken up during the storms.

There was a lobster pot broken up on the beach also, so it could well of been that Samo.

[Complete Angler]

Thornback ray for sure.

[Kdeane87]

It's a Thornie for sure looks like they've thrown the body back after cutting the wings off

My guess too....... I always fillet fish straight after being caught. Saves the mess at home.!