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Fish guide

Boarfish

Capros aper · Everything else

Boarfish
Photo: Hectonichus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What fish is this?Identify a fish from a photo

A small, deep-bodied fish found mostly off the west and south-west coasts of Britain, rare from the shore.[1]

How to recognise it

  • Thin, oval body, a bit like a flatfish standing on its side, with very large eyes.[1]
  • Strong, spiky dorsal fin and a mouth that extends into a short tube.[2]
  • Orange or red in deep water, yellow or straw-coloured when shallow.[3]

When and where

Found over
rocky ground, sand[3]

Sources

  1. British Sea Fishing: Boarfish
  2. FishBase: Capros aper
  3. MarLIN: Boar fish

These notes are a draft: we gathered them from the sources above and are still checking them. We don't work out best times for this fish yet. The size rules come from the same checked byelaws as every other fish.

Size and bag limit

Minimum size
Sizes vary along the coast. Pick your spot to see the rule there.
Bag limit
None set for the whole UK.
Minimum sizes around the UK
AreaMinimum size
Kent & Essex IFCANone
Sussex IFCANone
Southern IFCANone
Devon & Severn IFCANone
Cornwall IFCANone
Isles of Scilly IFCANot checked yet
North Western IFCANone
North Eastern IFCANot checked yet
Northumberland IFCANot checked yet
Eastern IFCANone
Welsh GovernmentNot checked yet
Scottish GovernmentNot checked yet
DAERA (Northern Ireland)Not checked yet