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SEA LIFE Scarborough Need Help Identifying a Fish

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by Mr.Weasel, 7 Jul 2012.

  1. Mr.Weasel

    Mr.Weasel Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    West Yorkshire
    Recently, I found a video on YouTube showing the thornback ray tank at the SEA-LIFE centre in Scarborough. The video showed the thornback rays swimming amongst some shoaling fish. I'm really interested in knowing what they are because I'd like to create a digital 3D representation of them for use in the video game 'Zoo Tycoon'. I have wrecked my brain trying to figure out what the fish are, but to no avail, and I even contacted the author of the video but he doesn't know what they are either.

    Here is a screen capture directly from the video: (apologies for the quality)

    [​IMG]

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Mr.Weasel
     
  2. Tim Brown

    Tim Brown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Well its rather blurred but they look like Mackerel to me
     
  3. Mr.Weasel

    Mr.Weasel Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Sorry, I forgot to provide a link to the original video, it might be a little less blurry. Here it is;

    Sealife centre Scarborough England - YouTube (at 3:43)

    Yeah, I thought it was some kind of mackerel too, but I've checked most mackerel species and the face doesn't really match up. I'll give mackerel another look. Thanks for the reply.
     
  4. FBBird

    FBBird Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    SEA LIFE SCARBOROUH

    Is there a thing called a Horse[head] Mackerel?
     
  5. Mr.Weasel

    Mr.Weasel Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Yeah, there is the Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) but I don't think that's what the fish are in the video; the head shape looks slightly different to me, though you might be right. I'll probably contact the centre tomorrow to see if they'd be able to enlighten me. Thank you for the replies.
     
  6. devilfish

    devilfish Well-Known Member

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    They look like Atlantic mackerel to me, I remember seeing similar specimens most recently at Sea Life in Chessington & Weymouth. I've attached a photo from Chessington and I'll try to dig up clearer ones.

    I'm not sure whether it's a result of old age, fighting or if it's seasonal, but I remember thinking that it looks like a bit of a traumatic injury. In some aquaria the majority of mackerel in a shoal looked like this, but in others there would only be one or two.
     

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  7. Mr.Weasel

    Mr.Weasel Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Thanks a lot, I think you may have cracked it. I had early suspicion they were mackerel, but looking at pictures of them on Google I thought the faces looked different, but your photograph shows them with the exact same face. Thanks again, and thank you to the other posters who also had suspicion they were mackerels.