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From The Times
December 8, 2004

Global warming entices exotic fish on flying visit

By Simon de Bruxelles

AN ORIENTAL fish with fins like wings is believed to have been brought to British waters by global warming.

The 15in long oriental flying gurnard, Dactyloptena orientalis, was hauled up in a herring net less than a mile from Penzance on Monday night. The fish is being kept at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay after skipper Tony Richards kept it alive.

Mr Richards, 46, from St Ives, said: “We were in only about 45ft of water and were hauling up our herring nets by hand. It was the last fish in the net. I could feel by touching that it was an extraordinary specimen — its skin is armoured. It had a flat head and when I picked it up it spread its wings. They are as wide as the fish is long, about 15in.

“It is a beautiful animal. Its wings are all different colours: blue, red, yellow and grey. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years at sea. It’s an incredible beast.”

Flying gurnards are widely distributed but native to warmer waters such as the Mediterranean and the Philippines. They use their large pectoral fins to “walk” along sandy sea floors hunting for small invertebrates. One other such fish was found in Britain in the 1980s but was dead when it was caught.

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