I don´t know about you but I´ve spent the Christmas period sitting on my arse with my feet up on the coffee table. I noticed that some idiot left an open box of Quality Street lying around. They won´t do that again in a hurry!
This shameful self-indulgence is tolerated and even encouraged at this time of year and usually acts as a catalyst to sign up to healthy new year´s resolution like marathon running, cross-channel swimming, mountain climbing or at least taking the dogs for a walk.
Of course not everyone succumbs to such indolence. John Langridge has had the good sense to go fishing for barbel in the Guadiana over Christmas and this morning he sent me some pictures of some of the fish he has been catching. What monsters they are!
John is an expert on Spanish barbel and the fish he caught over the last few days include three different species; comizo, gypsy and common. He has recently published a book on Spanish barbel. I have asked for it for my birthday which is in early January and so will have my mits on it in a few days. I´m sure it will be excellent.
If you want to treat yourself to a copy this link will take you to where you need to go:
https://www.medlarpress.com/code/index.html#!/Fishing-for-Spanish-Barbel/p/63692772/category=8800691
Anyway, if you have your feet up on your own coffee table you may enjoy looking at the pictures that John sent on. Here they are:
I nearly choked on a coconut roll when I saw this! This is a gypsy barbel.
Then I saw this and spilled some hot tea down my lap! A common barbel.
Grandad revived me using a defibrillator after I looked at this one! This is a comizo barbel which is the largest-growing of the nine Spanish barbel species.
fishydreams 
everything frozen here. how dare you taunt me thus?!!! lol
He he he he
Hi, I would say the bottom two are smallead/Comizo crosses….. The common barbel is found in the Rio Tajo not the Guadiana. Identification is very difficult on the Guadiana as they all interbreed.
Many thanks for your comment and sorry for my delay in responding. I was off in Glasgow visiting my daughter and eating and drinking more than I should have! The identification of theses barbel seems to be a tricky business, at least to me. In my neck of the woods (the Guadalhorce) life is relatively simple as we only have the gypsy (L. sclateri) but in regions where the species overlap hybridisation throws a spanner in the works. If in doubt I will usually send a picture to John Langridge!
T
Opps, sorry went off too early…….
The Guadiana river is not home to what we call the Common barbel ( L. bocagei ) it is more commonly found on the Tajo and Duro rivers.
I would say the two bottom pictures are actually hybrids of the Comizo and smallhead (L. Microcephalus) barbel that are found in the Guadiana.
Barbel identification is often difficult in the Guadiana. Nice fish though.
Tony Rocca.