i'm with you 100% jonny. i too thought from the written descriptions that A-D were shore rocklings until i came across 3 bearded rockling pics 3 and 4. like ronald said, pictures like them taken underwater can fade or distort colours. but they can't change the markings and patterns on the fish. it's one thing to read a description of something then try to allow for geographical, enviromental and dietary variations to form a picture in your mind as how they would look. but a photo is worth a thousand words. the 3 bearded rockling pics 3 and 4 look a closer match to pics A-D than the 3 bearded rockling pics 1 and 2 it may be as simple as pics 1 and 2 are fully matured fish and 3 and 4 are juveniles, but seeing as the pics came from fishbase.org studied at st.abbs marine reserve in the north sea 2004 and the encylopedia of britain and ireland http://www.haitas.org.uk marinelife species. ulster museum sciences. i'm happy enough that if it's good enough for them as a positive i.d. of a 3 bearded rockling, it's good enough for me. i'm not gonna argue with the scientists. i'm just a layman at the end of the day, certinly no oxford scholar but as a footnote it's worth mentioning that last year i caught 107 shore rockling that were all that straight brown colour and only 10 3 bearded rockling all with the same markings as A-D. that puts the 3 bearded rockling at a 1 to 10 ratio which would be about right. all open to debate thow
MMM Its a strange one Al have you come across any info as to if they change colour as they mature then? Or is it down to where they live? I dont think it can be down to Geographical Position as Ronald and others have caught them in the lighter colour in Bangor. Could it be a sex thing? Males one colour females the other?
