Unknown fish

[NeilP]

Hi.
This morning I had a splash off Pendennis Point, and towards the end of the dive I came across a fish I hadn't, or don't think, I've seen before.

It was at 4m, on the bottom and stationary, in a gravel patch in the middle of the rocks, it was about 70-80cm long, looked like a Doggie, but was a very dark grey, almost black. I could see the gills moving, so it wasn't dead.

So to sum-up - a fish about 70cm long that was almost identical to a Dogfish in shape and features, but had a very dark skin.

Any idea?

[triplefin]

Could it have been a nursehound (sometimes known as the greater or larger spotted dogfish or bull huss) .

Dogfish and nursehounds r usually distinguished by the size of the spots/blotches. Nursehounds having larger and fewer ones but this is not always the case and they can be black. The otherway of telling them apart is on the underside of the head dogfish have grooves leading from the nostrils in the common dogfish these are connected to the mouth but in the nursehound they r not. I guess you probably werent able to get close enough to have a look. The nursehound tends to be larger on average 1m+. They are not seen so often but tend to occur more in the south and can be seen in shallow water and tend to prefer rocky environments. If it had the blunt head/nose of a doggie I dont think it can have been anything else.

Hope this helps
Glad to hear someones diving! havnt got wet yet this year!

[resting rifleman]

Originally Posted by Epic

Hi.
This morning I had a splash off Pendennis Point, and towards the end of the dive I came across a fish I hadn't, or don't think, I've seen before.

It was at 4m, on the bottom and stationary, in a gravel patch in the middle of the rocks, it was about 70-80cm long, looked like a Doggie, but was a very dark grey, almost black. I could see the gills moving, so it wasn't dead.

So to sum-up - a fish about 70cm long that was almost identical to a Dogfish in shape and features, but had a very dark skin.

Any idea?

spurdog, has noticable spikes in front of both dorsal fins
smoothound, fits description.
starry smoothound, has small white/pale markings down the length of upper flanks.
could it have been one of these?

[NeilP]

Originally Posted by triplefin

Could it have been a nursehound (sometimes known as the greater or larger spotted dogfish or bull huss) .

Dogfish and nursehounds r usually distinguished by the size of the spots/blotches. Nursehounds having larger and fewer ones but this is not always the case and they can be black. The otherway of telling them apart is on the underside of the head dogfish have grooves leading from the nostrils in the common dogfish these are connected to the mouth but in the nursehound they r not. I guess you probably werent able to get close enough to have a look. The nursehound tends to be larger on average 1m+. They are not seen so often but tend to occur more in the south and can be seen in shallow water and tend to prefer rocky environments. If it had the blunt head/nose of a doggie I dont think it can have been anything else.

Hope this helps
Glad to hear someones diving! havnt got wet yet this year!

That must be it then.
I thought it was a Bullhuss, as I've seen them at the same site on other occasions, but haven't seen a black one before.

Cheers for the help.

[NeilP]

Originally Posted by resting rifleman

spurdog, has noticable spikes in front of both dorsal fins
smoothound, fits description.
starry smoothound, has small white/pale markings down the length of upper flanks.
could it have been one of these?

Nope, the dorsal fin didn't fit a Spurdog, and the side of the fish was just the one colour.

Wish I had a camera with me.

[Scuba1]

Well Epic
I´ll go with the smoothhound

ATB
Michael