Has anyone ever come across any barbel with abnormalities in the severn? extra barbules, mis shapen etc?
cheers

Yes. The extra pair of barbels almost certainly induced by, now illegal, growth hormones present in significant quantity in the 'luncheon meat' baits fed into the Severn in huge amounts. Similar extra barbel mutations occured on the Trent (same reasoning).

I posted this on another thread just before the Christmas break. I hope you find it informative.


I found this extract. I'll copy the 'growth hormone' text when I find the exact reference. More from ecologist Dr Nick Giles:


"Wheeler and Jordan suggest that barbel are truly native to the following main British Rivers: the Yorkshire Ouse, Derwent, Wharfe, Aire, Swale, Don, the Trent system, Witham, WeIland, and the Great Ouse and Thames systems.
Several other smaller rivers may also have provided a home for post-glacial barbel populations which subsequently either died out or survived at low densities in localised pockets of suitable habitat.

Anglers have, in recent years, aided the spread through British
rivers. No one knows what effects such introductions have had on the former fish communities of these rivers but it seems likely that the newly-introduced barbel will overlap (compete?) for both food and space...

In 1956, 509 Kennet barbel were transferred to the Severn. (By the Angling Times.) This population has subsequently thrived and spread..."

The four sensory barbels on the upper lip (gudgeon have two, stone loach have six) can detect the presence of small prey that have burrowed down below the surface, these animals can then be dug out of the gravel with the thick rubbery lips and passed back to the throat where three rows of powerful crushing (pharyngeal) teeth grind up even the toughest food. A shoal of actively-feeding barbel can, therefore, 'Hoover' the stream bed for a wide variety of potential prey."

Aye.....i once caught one that looked like it had been smacked with a sledge hammer!!!! Right on the nose!!! Weird looking thing but it was clearly not in any discomfort as it weighed around 7lb and was almost as fat as me!!!! It was also better looking!!!!

Why are you asking??

personally ,i think its a load of piffle about growth hormones being in luncheon meat in great quanty as its never effected me and i've eaten tones of the stuff throughout my life ,i'm still the same height i was when i was twenty ,still pretty much the same weight ,and my whatsit is still only 9" so i'm affraid all this groth hormones stuff is balony

but i'm not totally biased too this subject ,i've discussed this before on barbel specific forum .many times as this debate as been raging for decades here is young ray with Mr barbel (fred crouch) discussing this very subject at a public house close too the royalty fishery several years or more a go .

or SPAM !!??


It's only when you grow an extra whatsit, on your whatsit, that most people take note.

Certainly an interesting link Mr Chavender, I wouldn't dare shorten it, let alone take anyone else's word for it.


Have you seen Dr. Malcolm Greenhalgh report on this phenomenon in barbel?
I could scan - not sure about copyright though. I heard elswhere that EU legislation stopped the hormone thing in Irish pork, not that the, alleged, problem was ever due to Irish pig farming practice, or 'luncheon meat'.

Most people eat pork, beef and chicken products.
Most animals are not organic and are fed man made feed with all sorts in it.
Most people are over weight.

Any connection?

Why not fish?

I know someone who work in chunky chicken who vowed never to eat Chicken again after witnessing Chickens with a 3rd foot growing out their a$$.

Before you say they are not try to develop a a chicken with three drum sticks!

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a few years ago there were concerns and links of this , with the anti pregnancy pill ,of hormones from it being passed through the body ,entering the water system through the sewerage works ,and theres more of them popped every day ,week month, year than luncheon meat going in the drink

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

Ace cheers for the quick replies guys, dont suppose anyone has any pictures/locations where these severn fish were caught do they?

Basically im looking to collect data on mutations in severn barbel for a future masters dissertation, figured it would be interesting to compare with levels of mutation on other rivers.

try contacting the angling clubs along the severn ,telling them what your after and why ??im sure they would be able to come up with some photos from members etc or join such as barbel fishing world ..and post questions on there on the forum for the severn ..???
River Severn - River Reports 2009 to 2010 - Message boards - Barbel Fishing World forums - Message Board - Yuku

__________________
WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

Good luck with your 'Masters'. I wouldn't bother with the angling clubs until you want river access.
Dr Nick Giles (Game Conservancy/Wetlands Research) mentioned P.C. Hunt Aand Dr. J.W. Jones as having done a lot tagging and tracking of barbel, literally up and down the Severn.

I've snipped a bit from 'Shoaling and Movements of Barbel' in his Freshwater Fish - 1994 Swan Hill.
I also hope it's of intrest to the forum:

"It seems that barbel are very sensltlve to variations in current flow, moving their favourite holding positions on the river bed as the flow regime changes, for example after heavy rain or when sluice gates are opened and closed. Individual fish need areas within their normal 'home range' where they can hold station efficiently both at times of flood and, conversely, when the river is at a summer low. P. C. Hunt and J. W. Jones tagged more than 3000 Severn barbel in the 1970s recapturing over 500, about half by electro-fishing and half by angling.
Of the 531 recaptured fish, 287 had not moved far away from the initial site of capture since being tagged; 92 were caught downstream and 152 upstream. The vast majority of fish had moved less than one kilometre, indicating that barbel probably reside in single stretches of river for fairly long periods. Multiple recaptures of the same fish from a given spot were made on several occasions, reinforcing the view that certain fish occupy the same lie for extended periods of time. This is not always true however, since one individual moved a record 34 kilometres from its tagging site! Hunt and Jones concluded that barbel movements in a river the size of the Severn were complex and required more research before they could be understood fully. The Severn barbel population seemed to be split into two groups:
1. Shoals of small fish which tend to stick together and which move occasionally from one stretch to another.
2. Single (often large) fish, which seem to move often, perhaps in search of richer feeding grounds.
One clear-cut finding was that large (more than 2-kg) fish tended to be caught from deep holes or from lies where overhanging bushes with submerged root masses provided overhead cover. This is certainly the case on the upper Great Ouse where I have seen barbel occupying such spots for five consecutive years."