Five Bear Cockling

Five-bearded rocklings have five barbels on their head, one on the chin and four on the snout. Although these fish look slippery, they do have scales which are very small and delicate. Five-bearded rocklings are predator fish. They hunt mostly shrimp, as well as small fish. In turn, young rocklings are often consumed by gulls and terns. There are more species of rocklings living in the North Sea, including the three and four-bearded rockling. But the five-bearded rockling is the most common and not surprisingly referred to as the common rockling.