Ballan

Not exactly photography as art form, more man with fish shot.

But at 26in from his rubbery lips to the tip of his tail this is a big-un, maybe over 6lb. It's always nice to catch ballan wrasse as they are such amazingly coloured fish - each one has it's own particular pattern, but red with blue spots is the most striking. They are impressively tough too, the scales are like armour, and the spikes along the dorsal fin are plenty sharp enough and behind those lips are a set of crab-crushing teeth that you don't want to get your fingers near. Holding one in your hand it's very apparent that there is some serious muscle under those scales, it feels absolutely solid - nothing like the squashy-ness of many fish.

How do I know it was a 'he'? Well, contrary to the majority of fish species where the female is the larger, in wrasse world the situation is reversed. However, 'he' was once a 'she', all wrasse starting off life as females and then turning male somewhere after 8 years old. To a (strange) degree this change is down to circumstances; each male presides over a harem of females over a territory, creating, maintaining and defending nests for them to lay their eggs. If the male succumbs to old age or predation then one of the females will become a 'he' to replace him.

This lucky fellow got to head back to his nest tending life after a quick photocall. They aren't too good to eat, and being slow growing and breeding, this is probably just as well...