Bizarre fish caught off Scottish coast as angler ‘shocked’ by discovery

A bizarre-looking fish has been found in Scotland, leaving an angler “shocked” by his discovery.

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

The sea scorpion lives in relatively deep water, and is uncommon for anglers to catch. They are known as “aggressive feeders” and will attack other fish the same size as them.

Tel told our sister title, Edinburgh Live: “I caught a short-spined scorpion fish off Granton breakwater on Saturday. It was released unharmed back in to the sea.

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

Describing the creature, British Sea Fishing said: “The short-spined sea scorpion is a species of fish that has a wide distribution around the British Isles. It lives in relatively deep water which means it is a somewhat uncommon species for shore anglers to catch (although its smaller and more common relative, the long-spined sea scorpion is caught much more often by anglers).

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

“They can be found across rocky and mixed seabeds, usually at depths down to around one hundred metres, although it has been found deeper than this on rare occasions. They are aggressive feeders which will launch ambush attacks on other fish (which can be almost as large as the sea scorpion itself) and they will also scavenge for food on the seabed.”

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