More Bycatch

I’ve been on board a few more weeks and as you’d expect, I’ve seen some more interesting (to me, at least!) bycatch. I thought I’d show you some of the more common species I work with as well as some that are rarer and therefore more exciting for me to see.

Firstly, I thought I’d better show you Loligo gahi. This is the species that we’re out here to catch and the one I work with most.

As you should be able to see they are quite small, with the mantle length generally ranging between 10cm and 20cm, although I’ve had a few that have been over 30cm!

The other species I see a lot of is Patagonotothen ramsayi, or rockcod.

They are fairly small fish, ranging from about 20 to 30 cm total length (from the tip of the head to the tip of the tail). They are quite maligned by the fishermen as they are the main bycatch species but I really like them. When we have high levels of bycatch it is quite sad to see all these little fish pass by to the discard chute. With their mouths open gasping for air they’re like a series of Munch’s ‘The Scream’ parading in front of me.

One species that is relatively common is Brama dussumieri. They are quite beautiful and their scales shimmer in the light. They are fairly big (this one was about 60 cm total length) and are very good to eat!

A species I’ve seen quite a lot of the last couple of days is whiptail hake, or hoki (Macruronus magellanicus). These are such beautiful fish. They are mostly silver but their upper sides are an electric blue that is incredible to look at. Photos cannot do justice to the colour, especially slightly blurry ones like the one I’m about to show you.

The most exciting bycatch I’ve had since I’ve been back at see is an icefish, Champsocephalus esox.

I had to learn about these fish when I was at Auckland as one of my lecturers researched them. They are found in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters and lack haemoglobin in order to prevent their blood from getting too thick to pass through capillaries in the cold water. This means their blood is white, which you can see when you look at the gills.

On one haul we got some sponges. It’s the first (and so far the only) time I’ve had sponges being produced as bycatch. They may not be much to look at but they are home to a lot of different animals (you might be able to see a brittle star in one of them) and are important in creating a three-dimensional environment on the ocean floor. The shiny stuff you can see is fish scales. The sponges themselves were like, well, sponge. They were quite squishy and collapsed under their own weight.

I think that’s probably enough for now. As you can imagine there are other species which I’ll probably show you another time. Something to look forward to!!