Fantastic Fish!

This year Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium, is celebrating fish in all their forms. Fantastic Fish is a year-long event promoting sustainable fishing and a greater awareness of just how great fish are. There will be fish trails, fish talks and fish arts and crafts.

Clare Rugg, operations manager at the charity, said: “Some fish species are part of the collection - others are food! Fish are amazing, vital, beautiful and useful.”

The Living Coasts aquarium has a collection of fish from local waters, from the mangrove regions of the world and a collection of the weird and wonderful in Octopus Odyssey. There are four eyed fish, blue spotted sting rays, seahorses, tompot blennies, pipefish, puffer fish and lionfish. Fish used as food for the many birds and mammals at Living Coasts include sprat, mackerel, herring, capelin and roach

At the new fish pledge wall, visitors will be able to write their own fishy pledge on a card fish scale. What sort of pledges does Clare want to see? “Pledges about fish, supporting Torbay’s new Marine Conservation Zone, buying sustainably caught fish, buying fish for their tanks at home responsibly.”

Living Coasts supports the Marine Conservation Society and its www.fishonline.org guide to sustainable seafood for consumers and the Marine Stewardship Council, which campaigns for the labelling of sustainable fish for consumption.

“We will be linking up with the Marine Conservation Society to hold a beach clean as part of a marine BioBlitz in September. And the Big Fish Campaign road show will be coming to Living Coasts in the summer, promoting responsible fish keeping and warning enthusiasts about the dangers of getting fish that will grow too big for their tank or pond.”

And just to show how amazing fish are, here are ten fantastic fish facts:

1. The mudskipper spends most of its time out of water and can “walk” on its fins. It carries a water supply in its gill chambers and can also breathe through the pores of its wet skin
2. Many species of fish have taste buds not just on their tongues, but on their fins, face and tail area as well. They're actually capable of tasting food before they have it in their mouths.
3. Most brands of lipstick contain fish scales!
4. Fish use a variety of low-pitched sounds to communicate. They grunt, croak, boom, whistle, creak, shriek, and wail
5. Some fish are very long-lived - even a gold fish could live for up to 40 years
6. Most fish have good eyesight and can see us peering at them in a fish tank. Most can see in colour and some can see polarized and ultraviolet light
7. The age of a fish can be determined by growth rings in its scales
8. Anableps, four-eyed fish, can see above and below water at the same time
9. There are approximately 32,000 fish species in the world today - more than all the other kinds of vertebrates combined. Scientists have explored only 1% of the ocean depths and are discovering new species all the time
10. Seahorses are the only fish that swim upright. They can move their eyes separately and can change colour to match their surroundings. The female lays the eggs but the male carries them – in a pouch on his belly

For more information go to www.livingcoasts.org.uk or ring 0844 474 3366.