FISHO’S Mark Williams sent in these pics of a very oddly coloured whiting that was caught on the NSW Central Coast recently.
Mark reports the local angler (pictured) brought the whiting into the Fishermen’s Warehouse at Marks Point. He caught it fishing the flats in the Swansea area in Lake Macquarie and said the colouration made it look like a carp when he first saw it in the water.
As you can see in comparison to a “normal” coloured whiting it looks quite bizarre!
We passed the pics on to fish biologist Dr Ben Diggles who says the whiting’s golden colouration is “probably a genetic quirk, called Xanthochroism (or Xanthochromism). Affected animals (including fish) present with an unusual yellow pigmentation.”
Interesting stuff, thanks Ben (and Mark)!
Have you seen a similar coloured whiting or any other strangely marked fish? Let us know.
