Icelandic fish scares bathers in Norfolk

A rare piranha-like fish normally found in the deep waters around Iceland, recently ended up scaring passers by on a Norfolk beach.

The fish was identified as a Ray’s Bream by a staff member at the nearby Hunstanston Sea Life Sanctuary. The fish, although quite common in the waters near Iceland, has only been seen four times in the UK over the past 35 years.

The bream can grow to up to 50 centimetres in length and has huge, scary-looking teeth. Despite the impressive show, a spokesperson from the sanctuary said that they are a harmless species.

“It normally lives in deeper waters and is common around Iceland but apparently this is a species that can suddenly invade in large numbers, and that might well be what’s happening,” said Robert Meyer, an aquarist at the sanctuary.

Records at the sanctuary indicate that three similar fish washed up on a beach in Scotland last month. Prior to that sighting, a Ray’s Bream was found in Norfolk in 2005. Between 1972 and 2005, no further sightings were reported.

“Because it looks such a ferocious fish people might well be worried about going in the sea or letting pets splash in the tide edge, but they’ve nothing to fear,” said Meyer. “It might look a bit like a big piranha and it certainly has sharp teeth, but it never uses them on anything as big as a person, or even a very small dog.”

Comments are closed.