This shoal of grey mullet were swimming in the sunlit but slightly murky waters of Sunderland Marina, at the mouth of the river Wear, this afternoon. This is eleven of the fifteen in the shoal .....
.......... lovely streamlined fish .........
... with slightly iridescent scales (double-click for a larger image).
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Hi Phil,
ReplyDeleteI'm suprised to see mullet so far north. I didn't realise their range was so extensive, I associated them as a southern species. Heartening picture, shame about the crap on the water surface.
Regards Pete
Hi Pete, I've never seen them up here either. I grew up on the edge of Chichester harbour on the south coast and often used to see them swimming up creeks in shoals - and spent ages trying to catch one, with no luck whatsoever. Experts tell me (my brother-in-law is into fishing big time) that the only way to catch them is with bread bait and lots of smallish hooks..... not that I'd want to, particularly; there's something hypnotic about just watching them swimming effortlessly on the surface. Looking at the picture of the single fish, you can see why they're sometimes called thick-lipped mullet can't you? The water quality in the marina is a bit patchy but it didn't seem to deter them much - they seemed to be picking small animals off floating seaweed a lot of the time...
ReplyDeleteI've watched them in Lake Lothing in Lowestoft - same patchy water quality. They must be telling us something. I wonder if they're in Tees Mouth or Whitby. And speaking of rare sightings, I heard tell of a pod of dolphins surrounding a fishing boat off Runswick yesterday.
ReplyDeletePete
Hi snippa, there was a report in the Northern Echo yesterday of a humpback whale off Whitby too
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9897108.Humpback_whale_befriends_fishermen_off_Whitby_coast/?ref=ms