A garfish - Belone belone - in the tidal zone

 fig. 1. Garfish, Belone belone belone. Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 4-6-2019. 

Klik hier voor een Nederlandstalige versie 

How often do you experience something like that? Once in your life? A big garfish, Belone belone, swimming upstream in a quite shallow 'rockstream'! I did at Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea) on 4 June 2019.

 fig. 2. Garfish, Belone belone belone. Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 4-6-2019. 

I was turning stones at ebb tide for a few hours, the weather was fine and I enjoyed the silence. I was taking pictures of animals I found on the rich undergrowth of the stones. Usually I start my field trips at ebb tide two hours before slack water. That gives me time to explore the rocks and rockpools just above the sublittoral zone, where you will find the more rare species. But Neeltje Jans is different: the most interesting part of the rockstream - a zone with interconnected rockpools - (fig. 3) is not situated at the lowest point. It took three hours before the tide came in, so I had all the time to explore and take photo's.

fig. 3. 'Rockstream' at Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 27-5-2016.

I had not discovered something special, till I heard something splashing a few meters from where I was standing. At first I thought it was just the flowing water, but the sound was different. Then I saw a lot of movement in the water and to my surprise I saw a garfish swimming upstream (fig. 1 and others)!

Garfish migrate inshore in spring to spawn in shallow water during early summer. This one seemed over enthusiastic, because it was not without risk. It was a large specimen of 47 cm and the rockstream was quite shallow and rocky. It had already bumped its mouth; there was some damage at the front. Of course I would love to take photo's and preferably underwater.

 fig. 4. Garfish, Belone belone belone in the pool where I took the photo's. Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 4-6-2019. 

What was involved in photography
I was already taking photo's with my Olympus TG-5, a very handy underwater compact camera (click here for an article about the TG-5). Fortunately I brought a WeeFine wide angle lens (to 150º) along and the underwater housing for the camera and lens. Maybe I could take photo's of the entire animal underwater!

Just taking photo's at the very spot was impossible. In daylight they are shy and fast, so getting a good look, making a composition and getting the auto focus at the right spot was not to be. And the chance it would turn around and disappear, was very probable. I saw a pool at the edge of the rockstream that was big enough, where it could not escape and with running water (fig. 4). Running water was desirable. Otherwise I would get a picture of a lot of debris instead of the garfish. Another advantage of the pool: the rocks were overgrown with seaweeds that would function as a buffer edge. I failed at my first attempt, but the garfish swam into a dead corner and I was able to put it in the pool.

 fig. 5. Garfish, Belone belone belone. Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 4-6-2019. 

It worked out perfectly. The fish did swim, but the space was limited; it was just able to turn around in the pool (fig. 4 & 5). It did not seem to be very shy, otherwise there woud have been the risk of it jumping out of the pool and hurting itself. Taking photo's was not easy, because I could not see anything on the display (I have a kind of angle finder but I forgot to take it with me). So I had to take photo's in the blind and rely on my experience, just as I used to do in the past when snorkeling. The fact there has to be water between the wide angle lens and the underwater housing did not make it any easier. The pool was quite shallow, water got out and several times the space between lens and underwater housing fogged up.

All in all I am very satisfied with the results! Just as I had finished taking pictures, the pool flooded. The garfish turned around immediately, found the exit and swam away to deeper water.

 fig. 6. Garfish, Belone belone belone. Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 4-6-2019. 

Length
Garfish are easily recognised by their long thin bodies and their long, needle like mouth. They can grow to a length of 104 cm (Dulcic & Soldo, 2006). Their average size is 45 cm. A garfish of 95 cm weighs about 1.3 kg. In their first year they become about 25 cm long. In their second year, when they become mature, they grow to a length of 45 cm. So the one I discovered was at least two years old. But it is not exact science: the higher the temperature of the seawater, the quicker they develop and grow. Garfish can live up to 18 years.

fig. 7. Suddenly the garfish moved out of sight. When I saw the photo's I realised that a Green crab, Carcinus maenas wanted the garfish for prey. Neeltje Jans, the Netherlands (North Sea), 4-6-2019. 

Hunters and prey
Garfish are sight hunters and fast swimmers. They hunt for prey like small(er) fish, cephalopods and arthropods. Of the fish the following are specifically mentioned: sand smelt (Atherina), herring (Clupea), sprat (Sprattus), sand eels (Ammodytes), stickleback (Gasterosteus), cod species and the like (Gadidae).

They mainly seek their prey during the day. Jager (2015): 'The highly specialized eyes are adapted to hunting at the high light intensity that prevails on the water surface. Due to the high density of cones in the eye, visibility is very sharp. In the retina, two separate sections, one adapted to the high light intensity in the area above the fish ('Snell's window'), and the other adapted to the low light intensity outside this window. Moreover, the eye is very light-sensitive, so that even at night, garfish can hunt for sight.'

fig. 8. Geep, Belone belone belone. Neeltje Jans, Noordzee, 4-6-2019.

Habitat
It is a pelagic fish. They live in open water shoals west of Great Britain in the winter and in March-April - when the sea gets warmer - head into the North Sea where they spawn in shallow water. The main spawning time is May-June, but it can continue until September. Most sources describe garfish as living just below the water surface. Louysi (2015) notes between 0 and 1 meter and a maximum of 5 meters deep. Heessen et al., (2015) indicate that they were found with catches up to 600 m deep! However, with a side note: because the fishing net is immediately opened at the surface of the water and thus brought again, it is possible that the animals have ended up in the net at a lesser depth. The times that I saw garfish as a diver (more on that later), it was not even half a meter deep.

It seems to be a general species. Last year I spoke to anglers who told me that they regularly catch garfish on the pier of Hoek van Holland. They are supposed to be quite numerous in the Oosterschelde. Nijssen (1987): 'In 1983, 1570 kg of garfish was caught in the Zeeland waters'. In Jager (2015) you can read more about the fishing on garfish.

fig. 9. Garfish, Belone belone gracilis and their reflection in the surface of the water. Playa Chica, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, 3-3-2016.

Dive observations
They are rarely seen by divers. Possibly because they spend most of their time just beneath the surface; most divers descend straight away to deeper waters. Furthermore: they are quite shy at daylight, rapid swimmers and the Dutch diving waters are usually far form clear.

As regards to being shy: that may be the case during daylight, at dark they are - as I have discovered twice - easy to approach. In March 2016 I made a dive at dark at Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. At the end of my dive - I ran almost out of air and the power of my flash units was almost drained - I ran into a shoal of about 15 garfish. They came to me as close as ten centimeter and it was quite easy to take photo's. See figures 9, 10 and 12.

In September the same year I ran - also after dark - into a big, fat garfish at Trieste (Italy) at the Adriatic Sea. That one swam directly to my navigating light and I had to push it away or it could have damaged its mouth or my gear. That was also at the end of my dive; no more power in my flash units, hence no photo. Heessen et al. (2015) confirm my observation that they are are attracted by lights. As said, both encounters were not deeper than half a meter beneath the surface.

fig. 10. Garfish, Belone belone gracilis. Playa Chica, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, 3-3-2016.

By the way: a triple of subspecies are distinguished (Collette & Parrin, 1986). The one I saw at Neeltje Jans is Belone belone belone. The garfish of Lanzarote (fig. 9, 10 & 12) and Trieste belong to Belone belone gracilis.

fig. 11. A parasitic copepod, Caligus species on the gill cover of the garfish. This - largely cropped - photo is the best I got. Neeltje Jans, Noordzee, 4-6-2019. 

Parasites
When I was looking at the photos, I saw a few parasitic copepodes, one at the gill cover, two at the pectoral fin and one on the anal fin. It is a Caligus species (fig. 11). The photo's are not detailed enough to find out what species. Garfish can be infected by several Caligus species, one with the scientific name Caligus belone; it is not hard to imagine where the name of this species derives from!

fig. 12. In Natura 10: artwork based on the garfish photographed at Lanzarote.

Literature & weblinks

• ANEMOON
• Fishbase
• Collette, B.B. & N.V. Parrin, 1986. Belonidae. Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Volume II. p 60-609.
• Dulcic, J. & A. Soldo, 2002. A new maximum length for the garpike, Belone belone (Belonidae). Cymbium, 30, p 382.
• Heessen, H.J.L., N. Daan & J.R. Ellis, 2015. Fish atlas of the Celtic Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea, p 252-254. ISBN 97889086862665.
• Jager, Z., 2015. Factsheet Vissoorten - Geep Geïntegreerde Visserij. Click here of a PDF (in Dutch).
• Louisy, P., 2015. Europe and Mediterranean Marine Fish identification guide. ISBN 139782841388110.
• Nijssen, H. & S.J. de Groot, 1987. De vissen van Nederland. ISBN 9050110061.