Richard Muirhead just telephoned me with THIS story. It begins:
"Most anglers’ tales revolve around the improbable size of their catch – but this specimen really does look fishy.
Mark Sawyer, 53, hooked the bizarre creature while fishing for carp in a lake.
At first he thought it was a common brown goldfish but on closer inspection he realised it appeared to have the head of a roach, the body and tail of a brown goldfish and the rear fin of a bream."
OK, all three species he mentions are cyprinids, and a three way hybrid is not impossible. My best guess is that it is some weird goldfish, but I have certainly not seen a fish quite like this before. What do YOU think?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2151091/Fisherman-goes-angling-carp--discovers-fish-body-goldfish-head-roach-fin-bream.html#ixzz1wHBFRLh1
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I once did a study of cyprinid hybrids in Denmark, and there is no doubt in my mind, that this thing is at least partly goldfish. That enormous tail is a dead give-away. Apart from that it does look a little bit weird, but that is because I think a crucian carp has been out and about at some stage. They hybridize quite readily with goldfishes, and the result is quite similar to this animal. The colour varies enormously, so you can't really use that as a guidance. I sure way of deciding what kind of hybrid it is with out using DNA and so what is to look at the teeth and the otoliths of the animal in question. That's what I did in the study I took part in.So, somebody get me the otoliths, and I will know for sure.
Lars Thomas
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