Tub gurnard

Chelidonichthys lucerna · Everything else

Also called gurnard

Tub gurnard — Photo: Julien Renoult, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What fish is this?Identify a fish from a photo

The largest gurnard, a bright red to pink bottom-dweller found throughout UK seas, most often from boats and sometimes from shore.^[1]

How to recognise it

Large pectoral fins streaked with blue and edged in blue; the easiest way to tell it from other gurnards.^[1]
Red, pink, orange or yellowish above with a white or cream underside.^[1]
Sloping bony head with sharp-edged gill covers, and feeler-like pectoral rays that reach well past the vent.^[2]

When and where

Season: Jun–Sep^[1]
Found over: sand, broken ground, scattered rocks, sandbanks^[1]
Baits: mackerel strip, herring strip, ragworm, lugworm, mussel, squid, peeler crab, sandeel^[1]
Light: A visual hunter that feeds well in daylight.^[1]

Gurnard move offshore in winter and come inshore in the warmer summer months. Spawning is also inshore in summer.^[1]

Sources

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.

Fish guide