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Fish guide

Five-bearded rockling

Ciliata mustela · Cod and relatives

Also called rockling

Five-bearded rockling
Photo: jujurenoult, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What fish is this?Identify a fish from a photo

A small, slimy rockling that lives close inshore around the British Isles, often on rocky shores.[1]

How to recognise it

  • Five barbels: four on the snout and one on the chin. It is the only UK rockling with five.[2]
  • Dark brown on the back, shading to a paler grey-brown belly, with scaleless, slimy skin.[1]
  • Small: usually about 15 cm and rarely much over 25 cm.[1]

When and where

Found over
rocky ground, sand, mud, shell gravel, intertidal[1]
Baits
lugworm, ragworm, mackerel strip[2]

Sources

  1. FishBase: Ciliata mustela
  2. British Sea Fishing: Minor rockling species

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