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True blennies; with notes on British species

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For this article, my primary reference on where taxa are situated is Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) by Near & Thacker, 2024, which I regard to be the most   authoritative r evision of actinopterygiians at the time of this article's publication.    Who wants to be a Blennionaire? An overview of the true blenny families, with a guide to British species.   I can't think of many questions where the potential answers could be 'true' or 'false' without actually being a proper 'true or false' question, but when talking of blennies, it makes a pretty good case. The answer of course is "A"; the triplefins are one of six families of true blennies, unlike, let's say the Vivaparous blenny, which is not a blenny at all (and isn't even vivaparous) , and would informally be considered a false blenny —what a poser. So what exactly are blennies? What makes a blenny true? How many species are ...
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What species are Koi Carp?

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♪ Scales 29 lateral, with markings unnatural; that's Amur-ay ♪ Joshua Pickett   Adorned in sunset red daubs; peppered with dalmation-esque speckling; shiny, steel blue scales; streaked in vibrant orange; or completely piebald—these ornated fish come in a wild assortment of markings and colours that would've made the likes of even Vivienne Westwood envious. To the Japanese, they're called Nishikigoi, to species competition organisers, they're known as a nightmare, and to you and me, they're the kicky koi carp!   One of the oldest depictions of Koi Carp, illustrated around the time the "modern" strains were first being selectively bred. Utagawa Hiroshige, 1840-42. Koi weren't always like this, however, and no doubt most people know they are selectively bred "ornamental" fish, but what species are they exactly? For a long time, many of us have assumed they are just domesticated Common Carp ( C...
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2024 Species Tally

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  2024 has been a great year! I picked up where I left off in 2023 with light rock fishing (LRF), accounting for most of my fishing, though I didn’t limit myself, and did some boat charters, shore fishing with bait, and went back to freshwater to tick off some species I had not yet caught. Below is a tally of all the rod and line species I've ticked off this year... All photos/icons are my own catches     #1 - Flounder (Platyichthys flesus) Keen to start off the 2024 tally, I headed over to Charlestown for a couple of hours on New Year's Day for the ever-so-reliable Flounder, which I had some sucess on a few days prior. The conditions weren't really in my favour this time, being right in the middle of the day, and during a bout of hellish rain; though after some persistence, I finally hooked one, on what has fast become one of my favourite lures, the Ecogear Aqua Shirasu. #2 - Painted Goby (Pomatoschistus pictus)   A stunning January morning in P...
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Shore Clingfish vs Cornish Sucker

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Updated 17th March 2025, to include my own catches. A Cornish Sucker ( Lepadogaster purpurea ) I caught in a rockpool in Falmouth, 15 March 2025. As with virtually every contemporary tale of misidentification, it starts with a "Google said"; two words which send a chill down my spine every time I hear or read them. What may feel like a comfort blanket of confirmation bias to some, can mean an investment of hours for science communicators, who often need to access (sometimes quite obscure or costly) papers or surveys to effectively relay the relevant information over, and then summarise why the Google algorithm frequently pushes incorrect or dated material, even from reputable sources, to the top of the search. Sci-comm is generally a rewarding experience, as with every delve into a study, we learn more and become better communicators; though, in this "Age of Information", every peer-reviewed paper is countered with a more popular webpage lacking in any references. I...
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