Thymallus arcticus
I wind about, and in and out,With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling...
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Brook
He weighs ten ounces at best, but somehow his rise makes my heart skip like an old 45. His dorsal fin is more a sail than a rudder. He is small but strong. In a month, his Arctic home waters will try to freeze, suffocate, and starve him to death. Maybe he'll survive.
When the sail catches wind, he is a poem etched in flowing glass.
When the sail catches wind, he is a poem etched in flowing glass.
Thanks for the photo, Andrew.
posted by The Mad Fishicist | 10:17 PM
7 Comments:
What a gorgeous fish. Great poem to.
Grayling is one fine fish. And they do like dry flies! Some of my best memories of dry fly fishing include few nice graylings.
My first fish caught on a fly was a greyling - it was beautiful, too. I almost killed it, though, and you had to help me get the hook out.
p.s. Why is it called Thymallus?
Thymallus describes the unique smell that grayling have. It's not a fishy smell at all. Imagine dipping your hands in a bowl of thyme and the smell hangs around for the rest of the week.
I want to catch a greyling. That dorsal fin hypnotises me.
Whoa. Another kind of fish? You know, I do believe it is the grayling that has embedded it's fossilised form in the travertine all over the Getty. An ancient surviver to be sure.
Graylings, especially big ones, are one special fish. The ones we catch in Germany & Austria are the 'regular' ones rather than the arctic version.
You can read (and see) about my last trip at my blog.
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