Environment Agency:
Many fish – such as carp, chub and minnow – appear to have no teeth but in fact have teeth in their throats, called pharyngeal teeth. PHOTO: Environment Agency fisheries officer Stuart Keable with a carp
Environment Agency:
Tench (pictured) are known colloquially as the Doctor Fish as it was thought that other fish rubbed up against them when injured. The assumption was that the slime of the tench could cure injuries in other fish.
Environment Agency:
Catfish, a non-native species in UK, has a whopping 27,000 taste buds compared to just 7,000 in humans.
Environment Agency:
The Environment Agency breeds more than 400,000 coarse fish every year for restocking rivers after pollution or to give nature a helping hand. This photo shows the electronic fish counter at Calverton fish farm.
Environment Agency:
Brown trout (such as the one pictured here) and sea trout are the same species but it is unclear why some seem to choose to migrate to sea while others stay at home. Some trout appear to leave for sea but then change their minds, and are known as “slob tr
Environment Agency:
Fish - such as this chub - were the first animals to evolve bony skeletons over 450 million years ago.
Environment Agency:
Lampreys are the most primitive fish in the world.
Environment Agency:
Male sticklebacks, like BBC Springwatch’s very own 'Spineless Simon', build a nest of vegetation to attract females. The males then closely guard the nests until the eggs hatch. PHOTO: Stickleback, please credit BBC Springwatch.
Environment Agency:
The eel is the only UK freshwater fish that can swim backwards
Environment Agency:
Eels only spawn in the Sargasso Sea and then the young fish can take up to 3 years to enter our rivers.