Man photographs 'all' UK freshwater fish species

A wildlife photographer has achieved his goal of taking a picture of every species of freshwater fish in the UK.

Jack Perks, from Nottingham, had aimed to capture them all within a year but it ended up taking him seven.

With a soft spot for the "less glamorous species", Mr Perks said he hoped his work would make people more interested in the "stunning" creatures lurking in our waters.

He added the hardest to capture was the river lamprey fish.

"Fish are very tricky to photograph," he said.

"They live in water and we don't. It's taken years of learning behaviour and using specialist camera equipment to get the shots I'm happy with."

A lot of Mr Perks' subjects were found near his Nottingham home, including a chub in the River Erewash in Derbyshire and an eel in Leicestershire's River Soar.

A pond in Ilkeston provided an opportunity to film an Atlantic sturgeon - a species that has not been seen in British rivers for several years and is listed as "critically endangered" by the Canal and River Trust.

Mr Perks said he wanted his pictures to make people see freshwater fish as more than "just brown, slow-moving things".

He said our waters are filled with "exciting and colourful creatures, with amazing behaviours and life cycles", such as the three-spined stickleback and the zander.

Mr Perks said he compiled his list of 53 species of freshwater fish from a book, plus some he added himself and was "confident" he had pictured them all.

Footage captured by Mr Perks has also featured on BBC Springwatch - including some of spawning grayling "having a good time".

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