Funny looking Dogfish?????

[Codswallop]

Lads,

Myself and John D were fishing down in Donaghmore, Wexford on Wednesday night. We moved from our usual spot, to a more rocky spot with alot of kelp and rocks. So first cast I caught a Doggie. Sounds pretty normal, but this doggie was a very dark brown colour, very dark brown. We didnt think it was a huss, as it had all the features a usual doggie. I thought maybe the fact that this doggie had been living around the rocks and kelp so long, that it developed the colouring, as I know this happens with other fish. But then again, I didnt realise that doggies were territorial.

Anyone any ideas????

Cheers

Codswallop

[RobertMcClean]

I have caught plenty of dogs with such colourations, I have got dogs that are almost black from deep rocky marks and dogs that are very pale off ]surf beaches. I think it only takes a number of weeks for a dog to darken/lighten up based on its habitat. I am open for correction on that. :lol:

[Donagh]

You can usually tell huss straight off by them having large spots but they can turn up pure black on some rock marks. The easy way to confirm them is they have two distinct nostral flaps where as doggies have one. On colouration they can be blond with spots in sand, dogs can turn up pure black from black rock such as carrig west in the estuary and I have gotten thorny backs from foynes that have been near white. The cfb have this pdf as an id guide:

http://www.cfb.ie/pdf/fishbook.pdf

Donagh

[donal domeney]

The cfb fish book is a must for anyone who fishes. It's best saved to a file and printed off when you need to. It has around 33 pages in it so make sure the printer has enough paper in it.