“A Field Guide to the MARINE FISHES of WALES and adjacent waters”

has been produced by Marine Wildlife (www.marinewildlife.co.uk) for the Marine Conservation Society (www.mscuk.org)  who were grant aided by the Countryside Council for Wales (www.ccw.gov.uk). It is a comprehensive guide to the Marine Fishes of Wales, although most of the species that it covers are found around the English, Scottish and Irish coasts too. It contains details of some southern species whose distribution extends up to the south western English and Irish coastlines, and of others which are usually considered to be northern species generally found around the more northerly west Irish and Scottish coasts.

We believe that the book is currently the most comprehensive photographically illustrated guide to marine fishes as yet published in the UK or Ireland.

To use this site you will need to use the fish list and click on the relevant name - shown in bold. Not all names are shown in bold because will only become active because they will only have information added as this becomes available - as an example, we were unable to find a photograph of a scaldfish when we produced the book, but since then Paul Kay has photographed one in a Scottish sea loch and the images of this fish are now viewable on this site by clicking on its English, scientific or Welsh name. Whilst up to 500 species of fish may have been recorded in the ‘inshore’ water of Britain and Ireland at one time or another, a more realistic estimate of the number of species to be found in Welsh waters would be between 200 and 300. Some of these will be rare vagrants too. If you need more information on or have comments about any of the photos posted on this site then please quote the embedded reference when emailing us.

Please also do note that all images on this site are subject to copyright and are not freely available.

This website has been produced by Paul Kay - any help, donations or suggestions for other funding solutions would be much appreciated. We would very much like to offer this site as a bilingual English/Welsh site so if anyone would be prepared to offer translation services.....