Fish ID please

[fred funk }{]

I was walking the dog on the beach this morning when I found this unfortunate fella. Does anybody know what species it is?

[cormology]

Whatever it is its fair fond of the guinness by the looks of the beer belly, probably that last pint that finished it .

[JOHN1]

it's some sort of puffer fish

[the skipper]

if you take away the swollen abdomen .it looks very like a mackerel to me.

[JOHN1]

mackerel .
i know they have been a bit scarce this year but i think we all know its NOT A (scomber scombrus)

[Stan]

They call these blue fish in the Canaries. They must be some kind of puffer fish

[eric]

itis a kind of puffer and we do get them along the south coast

[Tomaszek]

I doubt if it’s a puffer fish. Did you try to touch its belly? By the look on the photo it looks to me like gases from decaying body got trapped under the skin, causing this odd look. I might be dead wrong, but that’s how it looks to me.

[eric]

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/page ... rfish.html


no picture present but this does confirm they do exist in our waters

[fred funk }{]

I gave it a poke with a stick and it seemed very rubbery, like a thick balloon. The kids ran because they thought it was going to explode

[Stan]

I caught 3 of these in Gran Canaria last week from a boat called Exploramar. If you look at the website of this boat you may see some pics of same. They have very sharp teeth and have to be taken off the hook with care.

The belly is swollen just like the photo and they have a bluish colour.

[fred funk }{]

Here's a close up of the underbelly, it had little spikes.

[JOHN1]

its an OCEANIC PUFFER.

and thats final

[fred funk }{]

Looks like that it alright, good find. Any links for some info John?

[The Austrian]

The oceanic puffer, Lagocephalus lagocephalus, is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae, found in all tropical and subtropical oceans, at depths of between 10 and 475 m. Its length is up to 61 cm and in East Atlantic regions, the Orkney Island and the Azores to South Africa but is very rare in the North Atlantic. We had strong southerly winds here the past few weeks, maybe this explains it.

It is thought to be responsible for fatal poisoning, therefore it should not be eaten.

more info here:
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Species ... hp?id=4292
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-160558979.html

[fred funk }{]

He was far from home off the Wicklow coast so. It's amazing what species the sea throws up sometimes.

[Stan]

It is quite common abroad to see dried puffer fish for sale. All Simpsons fans will be aware that puffers fish can be deadly to eat.

The fish that I caught were almost exactly the same in appearance but did not have the spikes.