Greedy Gannet

I remember when I was young my mother telling me, after I had eaten too much and couldn't finish my dinner, that my eyes were bigger than my belly. I knew what she meant. On other occasions I would hear people taking too much food (such as certain nationalities at the buffet bar of Spanish hotels!) described as "greedy gannets". I could visualise lots of Gannets diving into a shoal of fish in a feeding frenzy and appreciated the meaning of the term.

Today, as I was out for my run along the beach, these words came rushing back to me when I came upon this sight. A Gannet, washed in on the overnight tide, with a fish stuck in its throat. At first I though the fish must have been too big for it as it was at least a foot long. However, when I looked closer and tried to extract the fish to identify it, I could see what the problem was. The Gannet had caught what I am pretty sure is a Grey Gurnard and its spiky fins had got stuck in the Gannet's gullet. I am guessing the Gannet was surprised by what it had caught and tried to spit it out. However, the spikes were like a fishing hook and the Gurnard could not be released. I tried pulling the fish out to confirm the identification, but it was properly impaled in the Gannet's mouth and throat.

Once home, I did a bit of research and found that Gannets eat fish up to about a foot long. This one was probably at the upper limit of what it could swallow and, in addition, the Gurnard has a large bony head which would be hard to swallow. As Gurnards are bottom feeding fish the Gannet must have dived pretty deep to catch this one.

So lots of reminders of lessons learned today. (a) Don't bite off more than you can chew (b) Your eyes are often bigger than your belly (c) Don't be a greedy Gannet and (d) remember to carry you camera with you at all times!