Totally Tropical Rare Fish Found In Net Of Newquay Fisherman

October 20, 2004

Release from: Warren Wilkins
Newquay Voice (UK)

A FISH NORMALLY found in the warm waters of the Caribbean and Florida has found its way to Newquay.

Fisherman Phil Trebilcock has caught what is believed to be two Lesser Amberjacks off Holywell Bay last week.

Experts are currently trying to verify the identity of the warm water fish. If they do prove to be Lesser Amberjacks, it will be the first ever record of the species in North Cornwall waters.

The first ever Lesser Amberjack found in British waters was caught off The Lizard on the south coast of Cornwall only a month ago.

It is believed the olive green coloured species were caught up in the warm water Gulf Stream, which runs from Florida to the Caribbean and across the Atlantic to Cornwall.

The recent strong westerly winds have been bringing in a lot of exotic fish to the region. Thousands of By-the-wind sailors, which are related to the Portuguese Man-War, were washed up along the coast three weeks ago.

A surprised Mr Trebilcock caught the two Lesser Amberjacks in his boat The Mistress. "They came up in amongst a group of trigger fish, I’ve certainly never caught one here before,’ he said.

"They must have lost their way somewhere along the line, the fish are really rare." Mr Trebilcock took along his catch to the Blue Reef Aquarium so the experts could have a look at them.

The fish are now in the hands of local expert Paul Gainey as well as Doug Herdson from the National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth to verify the find.

Matt Slater display supervisor at Blue Reef Aquarium said: "The fish are tricky to identify. "They will need to be looked at again before they can be properly identified as Lesser Amberjacks.

"But it is definitely some kind of Amberjack, which came over on the Gulf Stream from as far away as The Caribbean.

"The first ever Lesser Amberjack was caught off The Lizard last month.

‘So if this does prove to be a Lesser Amberjack it will be the first for North Cornwall."

The Lesser Amberjack looks much like small specimens of the Greater Amberjack, yet they are much less common and are caught infrequently.

The Lesser Amberjack are found in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts south to Brazil, including the Caribbean and the northeast and southwest Gulf of Mexico. They feed on squid and crustaceans.