Strange fish caught off Scottish coast: Fisherman ‘shocked’ by discovery

A strange-looking fish has been discovered in Scotland, leaving one fisherman ‘shocked’ by his find.

The fish, a short-spined sea scorpion, was caught off Granton, Edinburgh, on Saturday. Fisherman Tel Robertson released the creature unharmed back into the sea, but said it was the “last fish” he hoped to catch.

The sea scorpion lives in relatively deep waters and fishermen have little chance of catching it. It is known as an “aggressive eater” and attacks other fish of the same size as itself.

Tel told our sister paper Edinburgh Live: “I caught a short-spined scorpionfish off Granton sea wall on Saturday. It was released safely back into the sea.

“It was the last fish I expected to catch, in fact I had never heard of such a fish. I think the one I caught was a big fish for the species.”

Describing the creature, British Sea Fishing said: “The shortspine sea scorpion is a species of fish that has a wide distribution around the British Isles. It lives in relatively deep waters, meaning it is quite a rare species for land-based fishermen (although its smaller and more common relative, the longspine sea scorpion, is caught much more often by fishermen).

“The short-spined sea scorpion can exceptionally reach a weight of about three pounds, although the average size of this species is less than a third of this weight.

“They are found on rocky and mixed seabeds, usually at depths of up to a hundred metres, although they have occasionally been found deeper. They are aggressive predators that launch ambush attacks on other fish (which can be almost as large as the sea scorpion itself) and will also scavenge the seabed for food.”

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