Dogfish at Barafundle Bay

Andrew Wallace
01.09.17 04:17 PM Comment(s)

Here's video of a swim on 1st September 2017 from Stackpole Quay to Barafundle Bay. The conditions were perfect: weather, water clarity, sea conditions.


Just outside Stackpole Quay we came across our first dogfish, a member of the shark family, commonly found around UK waters but not so much so that you often see them whilst swimming.

Sea swimming holidays at Barafundle Bay Pembrokeshire
What a sight - sunrise at Barafundle Bay

Just outside Stackpole Quay we came across probably 8-10 of various kinds of dogfish, in various places around the coast.


The dogfish is a member of the shark family, commonly found around UK waters, but not so much so that we often see them whilst swimming.


I just love that shark like swimming motion, which is so effortless & hypnotic. They seemed to favour the seaweed beds where they feed and are scavengers, eating pretty much anything such as worms, fish, prawns and shellfish.

They average about 15in/38cm in length although can get up to 3ft/4lbs.


Dogfish don't make particularly good eating and today are not favoured by fishermen as they need to be skinned before filleting due to their rough skin, which was once prized and used to polish wood and as a replacement for pumice.


On this day we came across maybe 8 or more of them in various locations around Stackpole Quay, swimming in the direction of Freshwater East. 

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Andrew Wallace