Something fishy’s going on! Britain’s record-setting 28lb 5oz record sea trout is actually a SALMON, claim angling experts
- Monster trout was caught off Calshot Spit, near Southampton, in 1992
- It is alleged the fish has the wrong jaw-shape and connection shape at its tail
- However, no one has been able to track down the specimen last seen in 2017
Angling experts want to DNA test a record-holding stuffed 28lb 5oz British sea trout amid claims the gigantic swimmer is actually a salmon hybrid.
The fish was reeled in off Calshot Spit, near Southampton, in 1992 before being crowned by an expert from the Natural History Museum.
But, after receiving a complaint saying its jaw-shape and the way its tail connects to its body means it may be a hybrid, the British Record Fish Committee has said it is determined to investigate.
The record-holding trout is pictured above. Experts have claimed the shape of its mouth and the way its tail connects to its body suggest it may be a hybrid
Chairman of the committee, Mike Heylin, told a newspaper: ‘We received a letter from an interested party who said they had been looking into the sea trout record and thought it could be invalid.
‘He had letters from a number of respected specialists expressing similar concerns and we decided that this was one worth looking into.’
Angling author Dr Mark Everard from the University of the West of England, Bristol, has also raised suspicions about the record-holder, after saying it looks like either a salmon or a salmon hybrid when he viewed photographs.
However, the mission to verify the fishy record-holder is on pause, as no one has been able to track it down.
The fish was last seen in May 2017, where it sold for £525 at Bonhams saleroom, Edinburgh.
It was first sold by John Farrant, who caught the fish, after he had it on his wall at home in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, for a year.
The British Record Fish Committee has said it is determined to investigate the dodgy fish that was reeled in off the coast of Southampton in 1992
Angling experts would usually ask the person that verified the fish for their view.
But its verified Alwynee Wheeler, a curator at the Natural History Museum, London, has since died.
The fish was still singled out as the record holder in 2013 by the Anglers Mail, but it is not the heaviest ever caught.
A Brown trout hauled out of Lock Awe, Argull, Scotland weighed a stunning 31lbs and 12oz, when it was caught in 2002.