Bogue, Boops boops 

13 January 2014
 

Fisherman Mike Ould (on FV Bronco TH74) landed a 39 cm long silvery sea bream (Sparidae) called a Bogue, Boops boops, fishing inshore off Babbacombe, south Devon, on the east facing coast. This Mediterranean fish is a scarce discovery off the British coast but there does seem to be a population in Babbacombe Bay and shallow seas around Devon and Cornwall as well as around the Channel Islands. The fish appears in small schools so where there is one, there are most likely more of them.

Report & Photographs by Rachel Irish (Marine Management Organisation MMO at Brixham)
 
30 October 2012
A silvery sea bream (Sparidae) called a Bogue, Boops boops, was caught off Penlee Point, south Devon (near Plymouth).
This warm water fish is rarely seen in British seas reaching its most northly point of distribution in the English Channel where this schooling fish appears as a vagrant.
Report and Image on Sealife Survey facebook
 
2 August 2009
A Bogue, Boops boops, was caught in a Red Mullet net in 10 metres of water about half a mile off the shore at Seaton, south east Cornwall, by Chris Dominic on the FV Emma May.

This fish was about 17 cm (6 - 7"), but they can grow to 38 cm (14").  They are a shoaling fish and are a commercial species in southern Europe. They are classified in the Sparidae Sea Bream family and I assume they are good eating.  They are rare in British waters and most have been caught in the Channel Islands, but they have also been found in Torbay and several other places. They are regularly caught in Red Mullet nets in Mount's Bay Cornwall in the autumn, but this is the first I had heard of from Whitsand Bay.
 

Report and Comments by Doug Herdson (Fish Information Services)
on the Marine Wildlife of the NE Atlantic Ocean (Yahoo Group)


BMLSS Sea-breams

bogue, Boops boops?
From:  Richard Lord (fishinfo@guernsey.net)
Sent: 09 February 2009 16:01:51
To:  CIenviron@googlegroups.com
  1 attachment
 bogue Boo...jpg (144.6 KB)
 

Guernsey commercial fisherman Steve Fallaize landed a bogue, Boops boops, north of L'Ancresse on the 9 February 2009.

Photograph by Richard Lord

This fish had a total weight of 566 grams
 

Total length 383 mm
Fork length 333 mm
Standard length 312 mm
 
 
 

Bogue belong to the family sparidae (sea bream). They are common Mediterranean fish.  It is uncommon in Guernsey waters but a few are caught every year.  All the Guernsey records I have for this fish come from the L'Ancresse area (north of Guernsey).  To give a sense of this fish's rarity Steve Fallaize has never seen this fish before and he has been fishing commercially in Guernsey waters since 1986.
 

Dr. George Minos, Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture Technology, N. Moudania, Greece writes "Boops: It is an ancient Greek word "Voops" = Vous (ox) + of (ofthalmos, eye). It comes from the appearance of the fish. It has big eyes related to its body, like ox."
 

Pronounced "Beau - ops" I believe and not "boops"
Steve Fallaize also, tantalisingly, caught a tiny sea bream today (couple of inches long) which he returned to the sea, which he believes was a white bream, Diplodus sargus.  Had this been confirmed as a white bream, it would have been the first captured record from Guernsey waters.
 

Best wishes,
 

Richard
 

Richard Lord