Blue Runners
A group of amateur fishermen fishing off Mumbles Head have managed to catch a species of fish native to the coasts of Africa.
The “Blue Runner” fish was among a haul of cod and bass netted off the south west Wales coast last week. It has never been seen before in Welsh waters. It came very close to ending up on a dinner plate and was left alone only because no one was sure exactly what it was.
Now scientists at the University of Wales in Swansea are hailing the catch as the latest evidence of global warming.
Earl MacDonald and Steven James had rigged up for an evening’s shore fishing on Swansea Beach in the same way they had done for the past 30 years. Mr MacDonald, who owned the fishing boat, said the fish was taken home and put in the sink along with the others.
“My mum gutted the other fish but she wouldn’t do that particular fish because she wasn’t sure what it was,” he explained.
“It looked a bit suspicious to her, she wasn’t sure whether it was poisonous. So, later that day I took it down to the university and we’ve since had it confirmed that it was a Blue Runner.”
When the fish arrived at the Department of Marine Biology at the University of Wales in Swansea, it raised a few eyebrows, native as it is to the African Coast.
Scientists there say the Blue Runner is one of a number of species appearing far north of their usual habitats.
“It does seem to be that it could be a change in water temperatures. We know water temperatures are rising globally, so it’s more likely to be because of that,” said Dr John Lancaster.
The fish has now taken up permanent residence at the Museum of Natural History in London.
Bluegills
A Yokohama citizens environmental group recently drained an artificial pond located in one of the city’s residential areas, to see what kind of fish were living there.
What they found were 2,500 bluegills–the popular freshwater game fish originating in the central and southern United States–as well as 150 black bass, also a species native to eastern North America. In contrast, only 150 fish of native Japanese species, such as koi (carp) and funa (crucian carp) were found in the pond.
The number of bluegills in the nation’s lakes, rivers and ponds is increasing at an exponential rate. A report compiled by the citizens group showed that the invasion by the predatory North American fish, thought to have been started by anglers releasing them secretly, are changing the biological order of even this small suburban oasis.
After three days of scooping up fish, 2,551 bluegills, 155 black bass, 131 crucian carp, 27 carp, four loach and three chub were found.
The carp and the crucian carp were all mature fish, which are thought to have been able to avoid being eaten by the foreign fish. Even bluegills were found in the stomachs of black bass, which probably means that numbers of the smaller Japanese fish had already fallen by a considerable extent.
