Five o'clock Shadow

[Stephen Scaysbrook]

I caught this barbel a couple of weeks ago off the Derbyshire Derwent. It was 11lb 14oz a river pb for me but what struck me most about the fish is it's black head and big tail.
Any one have any thoughts on its head.

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[Wayne Glossop]

Its just an hardcore fish lol. Not a clue but youll certainly know it lol

 

[Shaun Morris]

Greek female fish!

 

[Ricky Middleton]

its probably genetically modified Scaz,
Ive only fished the river once but with the tree lined sanitary products at Borrowash its probably on HRT and doesnt know it

 

[Ricky Middleton]

to be fair mate the 5 o clock shadow may be that of your camera looking at the shadows in the background

 

[Robert Edwards]

to be fair mate the 5 o clock shadow may be that of your camera looking at the shadows in the background

What he said. That tail is massive though! Cracker!

 

[Alex Gowney]

to be fair mate the 5 o clock shadow may be that of your camera looking at the shadows in the background

I'm sure Stephen noticed the strange colouring before he looked at the photos though. It looks like a pigmentation thing, the kind of colouring that sometimes makes large bream two tone

 

[David Gauntlett]

Partial colour changes/two tone fish etc. are often temporary phenomena down to the shock of capture, whereas others seem permanent....pigment irregularities perhaps, as in any other critter. I rather like the Greek female explanation though

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Adrian Williams]

There used to be a lovely albino one which turned up in catch reports fairly regularly, I've also seen a bright orange ornamental one for sale in my local aquarium and pond center. It was about 10 inches long and they wanted £350 for it. The guy said they were natural genetic anomalies and turned up occasionally in captive breeding but would probably be picked off fairly quick in the wild.