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Dieren en planten

Fish   Mail-cheeked fish   Red-fish   Tub gurnard   Grey gurnard   Fish biology   Reproduction of fish   Nurseries   

Mens en Milieu

Water   Seawater   Fisheries   Fishery techniques   Beam-trawl fisheries   By-catch   
  • Dut: Grauwe poon (grauwe zeehaan, kleine poon, kleine zeehaan, knorhaantje, knorhaan, spoon)
  • Lat: Eutrigla gurnardus
  • Eng: Grey gurnard
  • Ger: Grauer Knurrhahn
  • Fren: Grondin (trigle, grondin gris)
  • Dan: Gri knurhane
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Grey gurnard, Ecomare

Grey gurnard

The grey gurnard is the most common type of gurnard in the North Sea. In the summer, they stay in massive numbers in the shallow southern North Sea. When it gets colder, they move to warmer water. The grey gurnard is a benthic inhabitant which eats shrimp, other small crustaceans and small fish (such as whiting and herring). Grey gurnard is often caught as by-catch with other benthic fish (plaice, sole) however hardly has any commercial value.

  • Characteristics

    Grey gurnards can grow to 50 centimetres, although most of those caught are 20 centimeters. Since the grey gurnard is fairly common, the fishery biologists suspect that this species could have an important effect in the North Sea on the stock of, for example, herring.

  • Distribution of the grey gurnard
    Distribution of grey gurnard, Ecomare

    Studies on the distribution of the grey gurnard show that the fish retreats in the winter to three places in the North Sea: around the Shetland Islands, to the Northwest of Dogger's Bank and in the Kattegat. Every once in awhile, a school will also overwinter in the Southern Bight.
    A perculiarity of the grey gurnard is that it is sometimes found in enormous schools. Throughout the spring, the fish spreads out over the whole North Sea, including the Dutch coastal waters. Mostly likely, this has to do with spawning: eggs are regularly found in water samples taken along the Dutch coast.
    Young grey gurnards are not often found in the nets of research vessels. One suspects that the nurseries of this fish are situated in extremely muddy or stony sections of the North Sea bottom; areas that are normally avoided by the fishing boats.