Fish
Butterfish
Pholis gunnellus
Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Pholidae WoRMS 126996
Reference photos
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Slippery ribbon-like fish with a row of dark-and-pale ocelli along the dorsal fin.
Depth
0-100 m, usually 0-30 m
Size
Up to 25 cm long
Habitat
On the shore from mid to low tide amongst seaweed, under rocks and in crevices; common subtidally to 40 m, and offshore over rock, sand and mud
Behaviour
Shelters under rocks and seaweed and breathes air when out of water; both parents may take turns guarding the ball of eggs until it hatches
Diet
I eat
- Small crustaceans
- Polychaete worms
- Molluscs and fish eggs
Eats me
- European shag, which takes gunnels at a North Sea colony, where they occurred in 8% of diet samples
- Atlantic cod, with recruit and juvenile fish recorded eating rock gunnels in Scottish waters
- Goosanders, which take it in shallow coastal water in winter and spring
Where you'd find it
Found around most of Britain and Ireland, though less often in the Celtic Sea and the waters west of Ireland.
Sources
Open-access references behind this page. Every statement on this page was read out of one of them; anything that could not be traced to a source was taken off the page rather than left standing. Each link was checked on the date shown, and confirmed then to be about this species.
Grey Seal Diet Composition and Prey Consumption. Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Vol 7 No 20
Marine Scotland Science / Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews (2016)
SCOSOpen Government Licence v3.0link checked 2026-08-30
University of Liverpool (2018)
Weblink checked 2026-08-30
Marine Life Information Network, Marine Biological Association of the UK
MarLINlink checked 2026-08-30
A synopsis of UK and European cormorant and goosander dietary studies. NRW Evidence Report No. 591
Natural Resources Wales / Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru
Weblink checked 2026-08-30
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