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ID small Sea fish …

DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
edited January 2023 in Wildlife gardening
I bought some Cornish ‘sardines’ today (what used to be called pilchards before their re-branding) and saw that one of them doesn’t look like the rest of them. 
It’s more of a bronze/gold colour than silver, and has a coarse skin feeling more like a plaice skin rather than scales like a sardine/herring etc. 

  

It’s the one nearest the camera. 

I’m wondering if it’s a variety of white
fish rather than an oily fish. I’ll know more after supper 😉  … anyone got any ideas?

Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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Posts

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    edited January 2023
    Gurnard?  Sprat?
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    Could be a baby herring but I think it might be a smelt.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It does look similar to the smelt in the last photo on this site 

    https://britishseafishing.co.uk/smelt/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think baby herring look pretty much like sardines … and it’s bigger than sprats … and the wrong body shape for gurnard. 🤔 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited January 2023
    When cooked the flesh looked, tasted and was the texture of a ‘white fish’ rather than an oily fish, and the bones were ‘different’ to a sardine or herring’s bones. 
    I think it probably is/was a smelt … unless anyone has any other suggestions? 
    😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • EustaceEustace Posts: 2,290


    Oxford. The City of Dreaming Spires.
    And then my heart with pleasure fills,
    And dances with the daffodils (roses). Taking a bit of liberty with Wordsworth :)

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    That does look very similar @Eustace 👍 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    It's a smelt. I used to catch loads of them when I was younger. When I'm back on the PC I'll find a photo.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • scrogginscroggin Posts: 437
    It does look like a smelt, one way of telling is that they smell of cucumber, the flesh is quite firm. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes the flesh was firm … it didn’t really ‘flake’. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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