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THE FISH AND OTHER VERTEBRATES IN LOCH NESS
This section lists, as completely as possible, the fish and other vertebrate
animals which live in or occasionally swim in Loch Ness today. Please make
contact if you believe there are omissions.
- Frogs Small species only, reaching 4" or 10cm.
- Newts Small species only, reaching 3" or 7.5cm.
- Toads Small species only, reaching 5" or 12.5cm.
- Cormorant These large birds have a long neck and, at
distance, have been the cause of head and neck sightings. One of Alec Campbell's
famous plesiosaur sightings he later claimed was caused by a
cormorant distorted by mirage.
- Merganser Ducks These small black ducks are, amazingly, often
the cause of Loch Ness monster sightings. This tends to happen in three ways.
Firstly they create fast moving narrow V-wakes which are often misinterpreted as
something large swimming under the water. When they then dive or fly off, at
great distance from the observer, the wake subsides and the impression is given
that whatever was at the surface has dived. The duck appearing again much later
some distance from where it submerged is not noticed. If flying from the wake
the ducks are often lost to sight in the darkness of the land. Secondly they are
misinterpreted as being the head of a larger animal, particularly if swimming in
pairs when the necks can even be thought to be horns. The third, and most
impressive cause of misinterpretation is when they swim in a group of four or
more. This has been misinterpreted as a black hump if viewed from above at long
range. When the group then breaks up, unless the water is calm, it can appear as
if the hump has submerged.
- Herons Often seen around Loch Dochfour, the
River Ness and
other major rivers.
- Atlantic Salmon The rivers feeding Loch Ness,
Loch Oich and
Loch Lochy are the autumn spawning grounds for the Atlantic salmon. After
hatching in the spring, once the young fish have devoured their eggs sacs they
are known as parr. They continue to grow to about 8" or 20cm after two years
when bodily changes prepare them for saltwater and they become known as smolts.
At sea they grow rapidly, returning as adults two or more years later weighing
between 8lbs (3.5Kg) and 40 lbs (17.5Kg). While they do not represent a year
round food supply they do add substantially to the loch's biomass each autumn.
Unlike the Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon do not expire after spawning and may
return several times increasing in weight on each visit. In recent years salmon
populations have been shrinking owing to over-fishing in the North Sea.
- Charr or Arctic Charr Charr are small fish relict
in Loch Ness (and other Scottish lochs) since the last ice age. They are rarely
caught larger than 10" or 25cm in length, but are known to spawn in the loch and
its feeding rivers and burns and are quite numerous. Three specimens caught by
the Loch Ness Project in the eighties are the deepest fish ever caught in
- Eels Anguilla anguilla live in Loch Ness in large numbers.
When ready to spawn they leave Loch Ness for the Sargasso Sea. The young arrive
in the loch as elvers. The common European eel grows to a maximum length of
about six feet or 1.8 metres in length although none have been caught at this
size in Loch Ness. There have been unconfirmed reports of eels with manes in the
loch and divers have reported eels thicker than a man's leg, but these may be
- Minnows Small shoaling fish living close to the shoreline.
These carnivorous fish can grow to a considerable size and there are many
reports in the order of 1 metre long. Being at the top of the food chain,
however, means that they do not exist in large numbers in Loch Ness as they are
limited by the available food supply. Pike have a large swim bladder and could
therefore produce a sonar contact of significant strength. A substantial pike is
shown to the right.
- Sticklebacks A small bony fish living in large numbe