Helford river, UK

[panaque]

I thought I'd show you the results of some 'collecting' me and the kids have did last month, near where we live. The locality is the Helford river in Cornwall in the far South West of the UK. River is actually a bit of a misnomer because it is more of a sea arm and the salinity varies between on-the-salty-side-of-brackish and that of the open ocean. So, you've guessed it: no chance of any catfish here but, as you will see, at least one thing that could pass for one if you met it in a dark alley.
I would love to set up a native salt water tank one day to include some of the species we collected. For now, they were all returned unharmed.
First some pics of the locallity. Facing towards the sea:

From the same spot facing inland:

We did our collecting at a low spring tide, which means that where you see the water line now will be under 6 meters of water 6 hrs later...
No nets required, all the fish you will see here were caught simply by lifting up rocks on the shore and grabbing whatever wriggled underneath it.
Fish will follow in the next post...

[panaque]

First up, a bit of a surprise, the European eel, Anguila anguila.

Once common as muck everywhere, now critically endangered according to the IUCN. There were loads here, including many 10cm juveniles.

[panaque]

Next, the eel-like butter fish, Pholis gunnellus. Very pleased to find these - first time I've seen them. They are very pretty and my crappy photos don't do it justice.

[panaque]

This is the one then could alsmost be mistaken for a clariid catfish. It is however a member of the Gadiformes, the cod-like fishes. It's the 5-bearded rockling Ciliata mustela.

[panaque]

This bundle of weed is in fact a whole bunch of worm pipefish, Nerophis lumbriciformis.
I really like their faces.

They are related to seahorses of course and the males carry the eggs on their body. Like the top one in this picture:

.

[panaque]

There were lots of these gobies which I think are the sand goby Pomatoschistus minitus but could be P. microps as well.

[panaque]

Last but not least, common blennies, Lipophrys pholis. Great little fish.

That's all, hope you enjoyed it.

[Richard B]

Cool post. I don't get to the seashore that often but have good memories of similar catches.

[Marc van Arc]

Very nice post with great pictures. Love the Pholis!

[Carp37]

Nice finds- I can confirm that the sand goby pictured doesn't look like microps- it could be minutus as you suggest- strange as I've personally never caught any Pomatoschistus species other than microps! (I collected literally thousands of them for my PhD, plus my lab-mate's PhD).
I've got lots of memories of excruciating bites from handling blennies on holidays.

[panaque]

Thanks for all your kind comments and glad I have stirred some memories...
Carp37, I'll make a point of studying the gobies in more detail in the future. Previously we have also encountered black-, rock- and two-spot gobies in the same area.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Lovely, lovely stuff, Panaque! It is next best thing to actually paying a visit to the sea shore where you were. I love posts like these. And your format, thoroughness, and knowledge of the fishes are highly commendable too.

[Viktor Jarikov]

I've got lots of memories of excruciating bites from handling blennies on holidays

why on holidays? Are they more peaceful on weekdays?

Yeah, they bite into your fingers and palms like them little piranas, don't they?

[corybrummie2010]

Great post and some great pics too

[RickE]

Great fun! Used to be one of my favourite pastimes when I lived near the sea, mostly in North Wales. Not much around Watford though! I had a 5ft cold water marine tank for a couple of years and the 'cheeky' blennies were always my favourites. Looks like a lovely area.

[racoll]

Great thread.

I've always wanted a UK rockpool tank.

Shouldn't be too hard, right? Rockpool creatures tolerate some pretty extreme conditions.

[grokefish]

Love this thread, so much cool wildlife in that river.
Me and my mates used to catch eels when we were kids, in the outlet of a local lake, hundreds of them, very sad to see they are endangered (not us we let em go live).

I also me and my brother had native uk tanks when we were kids they were fab, main problem is keeping them cool enough.

My favorite catch was a green wrasse of some kind from a rockpool in Swansea. Beautiful fish that sadly died
Probably of starvation, we just didn't have the knowledge then.

[Richard B]

I've always wanted a UK rockpool tank.
Shouldn't be too hard, right? Rockpool creatures tolerate some pretty extreme conditions.

I understand it is tricky in the long term (for fish)- stocking density of fish should be very low & much cooler temps are required with good oxygen levels.

Agreed about the extremes of rockpools. Anenomes, shrimp, starfish, crabs etc seem to survive ok & certainly blenny species but smaller fish seem problematic

[RickE]

Agreed about the extremes of rockpools. Anenomes, shrimp, starfish, crabs etc seem to survive ok & certainly blenny species but smaller fish seem problematic

I think a lot of it is to do with the duration of the extreme conditions. It's only until the tide comes in or a wave refreshes the rockpool. Not for days or weeks as may be the case in an aquarium.

[racoll]

I think a lot of it is to do with the duration of the extreme conditions. It's only until the tide comes in or a wave refreshes the rockpool. Not for days or weeks as may be the case in an aquarium.

True. They do get a twice daily water change...

[RickE]

When I lived in Kenya I used to regularly see juvenile butterflies (Chaetodon sp.) etc. in very small rock pools at low tide. In the full sun, the temperature of the pools would often go well into the 90's F for an hour or two and the fish were fine. I don't think they would last long in an aquarium at those temps.

My UK native marine tank was in the dark stone cellar of an old Victorian house which never got warm. And it was in North Wales, which never got warm .