help with ID?

[lewiso]

Hi yesterday while out with my children we were walking around a pond a saw something in the water it was about 6-8 inches long a light brown colour looked abit like a eel but wasnt a eel. its body seemed flatish it was at the top of the water twisting around itself. As somebody who goes fishing quite regulary i think ive ssen every type of british fish both in and out of the water but i realy have no idea what this was. does anybody know? as im baffled

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

sounds like a type of leach

neil

[lewiso]

thanks i never knew leeches got that big the biggest ive seen before were about a inch long! how big can leeches get??

[nurglespuss]

Hi there.[It could have been a horse leech they can get to a decent size

[PMM123]

was the pond connected to a stream, could it have been a brook lamprey? i dont know too much about these fish and have never seen one, im just going off other posts ive seen on this message board.

[naturegirl]

We get horse leeches in the large water pits at Dungeness and they can get HUGE! 6-8" is a good size but they can get larger in the right environment.

Naturegirl

[Dogghound]

None of our native lamprey species occur in ponds. The only chance you will find of one being in still water is in clear lakes with direct inflow from a river or stream. They usually live in rivers and streams, so its fairly safe to rule out lamprey.