Tropical fish 'may be UK first'

This may be worth watching....

A fish which rarely strays from tropical waters has been washed up on one of the North Sea's chilly shores.
Experts say the 8lb porcupine fish found on the beach at Winterton in Norfolk on Sunday could be a UK first.

The spiny fish was spotted on the beach by birdwatchers who alerted coastwatch volunteer Alan McMurchie.

"I went to investigate and was quite astonished at its appearance so I went to get a cardboard box and protective gloves and retrieved it," he said.

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Experts believe the fish could have been brought across the Atlantic on the Gulf Stream, either around the top of Scotland or through the straits of Dover.

Another possibility is it could have been a pet which grew too big for its tank and was dumped in the sea.

Ok, I'd like to point out that no tropical fish enthusiast capable of rearing an 8lb porcupine fish, at great expense and certainly worth a great deal of money, would simply dump this fish in waters an enthusiast would know would kill this fish. I mean why not just dump it in the trash bin? Can you imagine someone yanking this fish out of a tank just to drive it to the coast and dump it? Makes no sense....

Ha, the good old puffer fish!! So much fun when your snorkelling to tap one of these with a spear and watch em blow up like a balloon. We get them here in Victoria and the water gets down to about 11'C and that one looks identical! I really wouldn't say we live in a tropical environment, its cold to temperate in summer.

I don't think it's that odd that the fish washed up there. late in the summer, early fall the gulf stream is way up north and all kinds of tropicals are found along the northeast. With the freakishly hot weather we've experienced, the waters have been warmer than normal and it is quite possible that the fish just found it's way out of the stream and then died.