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Open Sea Fish
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More than 70% of the world’s surface is covered with water and the majority of this is in the form of the so called ‘seven seas’ (North Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Antartic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean).
These oceans link up with smaller seas and smaller bodies of water such as the English Channel, the Irish Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to form one vast interconnected water environment. The Open Sea Fish (or Pelagic Fish) are the dominant species of this environment.
The open sea is divided into 3 layered zones: the photic (the surface and downward zone), the twilight zone (200 m to 1,000 metres down) and the dark zone (1,000 – 5,000 down). The deeper the water, the colder and darker it becomes and fish have adapted peculiar ways to cope with it. Fish not only cope with the cold and dark, but also with the dramatic increases in pressure if fish choose to live in very deep waters.
Most sea fish we know of live in the photic zone: some, like the cod, mackerel and herring swim in vast shoals and some live singly like the dogfish and seabass. The twilight and dark zones are occupied by less commonly known fish such as the Angler Fish which can appear grotesque and ferocious-looking.
In our website we have only touched upon the twilight and dark zones as they are a complete study in themselves.
Anglerfish (Common)
The Common Anglerfish has a large mouth and three long worm-like organs attached to its head. It can be found all around the coasts of England where it spends most of it
Cod
The Cod is one of our best-known offshore native fish. It is commonly associated with our traditional 'fish and chips'. There used be so many of these fish swimm
Dogfish (Lesser Spotted)
The Lesser Spotted Dogfish is also known as the Sandy Dogfish and the Small Spotted Catshark. It is an inshore fish that can be found in shallow waters. It is related to
Eel (Conger)
The Conger Eel is a long snake-like fish that has a smooth body with no scales, unlike the Lesser Sand Eel which has a scale-covered body. It is also called the European
Eel (Lesser Sand)
The Lesser Sand Eel is also known as the Sand Lance and can be found all around England in our coastal waters. It is not a true eel like its name suggests because it has
Herring (Atlantic)
Atlantic Herrings are also called ‘Silver Darlings’ by fishermen because of their distinct silver colour and because they were once an important source of protein to
Lamprey (Sea)
The Sea Lamprey is an eel-like fish that can survive in both freshwater and saltwater, although an adult spends most of its life at sea. It is also known as a ‘stone
Mackerel (Atlantic)
The Atlantic Mackerel is often just known as the Mackerel and is related to the Tuna fish. Atlantic Mackerel swim in large groups called shoals and can mainly be seen in
Pilchard (European)
The European Pilchard is a fish that is only called a ‘pilchard’ after its first year when it has reached adulthood and before that it is actually called a ‘sardin
Ray (Thornback)
The Thornback Ray is England’s most common native ray and is sometimes called the Roker. It is found in shallow waters all around England, but especially in the Thames
Salmon (Atlantic)
The Atlantic Salmon is a fish that is equally at home in freshwater and saltwater, although it is usually younger Atlantic Salmon that are found in larger rivers in Engl
Seabass (European)
The European Seabass is also known as the Sea Dace and can be found in our deeper coastal waters off the south and south-west of England. In the summer months small grou
Shark (Basking)
The Basking Shark is believed to be one of the world’s largest fish, after the Whale Shark. It can reach a length of around ten metres, but usually it is about seven
Shark (Porbeagle)
The Porbeagle Shark is a deep water shark that can be found all around our coasts, but it very seldom swims in shallow waters. It is sometimes called the Blue Dog Shark
Shark (Tope)
The Tope Shark is one of England’s most common and best-known native large sharks. It can be found all around our coastline near to shallow waters. In summer the To
Skate (Blue)
The Blue Skate is also known as the Common Skate and is very rarely seen nowadays around our coasts due to over fishing. Very occasionally it can be found in waters a
Sole (Dover)
The Dover Sole is one of several native flatfish that can be found around the southern coastlines of England. The other native flatfish are the halibut, brill, dab, turb
