Fish of the Day - week 18 - the grey gurnard

On this #FishyFriday and the spiky subject of fish species, let's take a moment to send some fish-love and 'all the best' thoughts to one of Newlyn's most enduring characters; fish market boss and walking database of every fish that has been landed on the marlet for the last fifty years or more to our very own Lionel.

Lionel referring to his fish bible and sharing info on the Greenland shark with assistant harbour,aster Jedna.

The man is a veritable walking encyclopaedia of fish facts and is the go-to person whenever the harbour has educational or indeed royal visits. 

Lionel at the forefront of yet another royal visit, seen heand giving Camilla and the then Prince Charles the lowdown on many of the fish landed at Newlyn during their visddit in 2022.

Lionel is a keen angler himself so will be itching to get a rod in his hand again after major heart surgery from the trusty cardiolgy team up at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth - all the best Lionel!

Grey and red guranrd side-by-side

Tons of gurnards are landed in Newlyn every week. The majority are red gurnard as can be seen from this box but in amongst the splash of red skins are a smattering of grey. These tasty fish are caught by trawlers in the fleet and can be found at any depth and on any kind of seabed. Many of the fish too small to eat are sold to the crabbing fleet for pot bait.

Gurnards are bizarre looking fish with a large bony head and distinctive snow plough shaped profile. For years they were thrown back or used as bait by fishermen but in recent years people have realised that they make great eating and their popularity is on the rise. Gurnards use modified fin rays as feeling legs as they feel their way around on the seabed tasting and feeling for their prey, crustaceans and worms

As the Cornwall Good Seafood Guoode tells us, "Gurnard have historically been discarded and only recently have they been appreciated as a food fish. Gurnards are fast growing and abundant fish although more research is needed to ascertain how well gurnard stocks are fairing their populations seem to be stable in Cornish waters. Avoid eating gurnards less than 25cm in length and during spawning season (April – August). There is some indication that stocks are ok from The EVHOE-WIBTS-Q4 survey, which, has shown a slight increase in abundance in red gurnard stocks in the Celtic sea and the bay of Biscay, since its beginning in the 1990's."

Management is currently minimal, gurnard are a non quota spcies and there are no limits on catches. Landings to Cornwall are steady around 20 tonnes per year. In 2019 a total of 26 tonnes of red gurnard were landed to Cornish ports with a value of £54k (MMO data)."