Not in Norfolk! Oh, yes it is…

There is a cute little fish which is very common on the south coast called a tompot blenny. It is about 15cm long, bright orange and has very busy ‘eyebrows’, called lappets. Until recently, it was not thought to live in the North Sea until a photograph was taken of one on the wreck of the Rosalie at Weynbourne in only 5m of water, just 100m from shore.

As soon as other divers saw the picture, they said they had seen them too off Sea Palling and another photo was taken there. The tompot is obviously happily flourishing in Norfolk waters, but all the books will tell you he doesn’t exist! Tompots and their close relative the shanny may be found in rock pools.