Listen to the Song – The Silver Brackish Shadow
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet
The Silver Brackish Shadow
The complete lyrics are included in the companion book, Our Jewels in the Water, allowing readers to follow every song while discovering the remarkable stories behind our freshwater and migratory fish.
Enjoying the music?
The companion book Our Jewels in the Water includes the full lyrics, additional stories, exclusive photographs and beautiful illustrations for every species.
“Where river water meets the sea, a silver shadow moves with the tide — quietly passing between two worlds.”
Species Profile
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet (Chelon ramada) is a sleek and elegant member of the grey mullet family.
At first glance it can appear very similar to its better-known relative, the Thick-lipped Grey Mullet, but careful examination reveals important differences.
As its name suggests, the lips are noticeably thinner, giving the fish a more delicate appearance around the mouth.
Its streamlined silver-grey body is beautifully adapted for travelling through coastal waters, estuaries and tidal rivers.
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet is remarkably tolerant of changing salinity and may travel from the sea through brackish estuaries and considerable distances into rivers.
It is a true traveller between worlds.
Clive’s Story
Mullet have always fascinated me because they can be right in front of you and yet somehow remain mysterious.
You may see a silver shape beneath the surface and then, almost before you have properly identified it, it disappears again.
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet seems particularly suited to that image.
It belongs neither entirely to the river nor entirely to the sea.
Instead, it moves between them.
For an angler, that creates another challenge.
Is that fish a Thick-lipped Mullet?
A Thin-lipped?
At a distance the difference may seem insignificant, but look closely and you begin to appreciate that each has its own character.
That is part of the fascination of identifying the jewels swimming beneath our waters.
Natural History
Thin-lipped Grey Mullet inhabit coastal waters, estuaries, lagoons and tidal rivers.
They possess an impressive ability to tolerate changes in salinity, allowing them to move between marine, brackish and low-salinity environments.
They feed on a variety of small organisms and organic material, including algae, detritus and aquatic invertebrates.
The species may form shoals, sometimes travelling considerable distances through estuarine and river systems in search of favourable feeding conditions.
Season, temperature, tides and food availability all influence these movements.
Their silver colour provides excellent camouflage, particularly in the shifting light and often cloudy water of estuaries.
One moment the fish can be clearly visible.
The next it becomes little more than a shadow.
Interesting Facts
- Scientific name: Chelon ramada
- Family: Mugilidae.
- Closely related to the Thick-lipped Grey Mullet.
- Has noticeably thinner lips than the Thick-lipped species.
- Silver-grey and streamlined.
- Found in coastal waters and estuaries.
- Regularly enters tidal rivers.
- Can tolerate substantial changes in salinity.
- Often travels in shoals.
- Feeds on algae, detritus and small aquatic organisms.
- Can be challenging to identify when swimming alongside other mullet species.
- Its ability to use several different aquatic habitats makes healthy estuaries particularly important.
Behind the Song
When writing The Silver Brackish Shadow, I wanted the song to capture something almost ghostlike.
Imagine standing beside a tidal river.
The water is slightly coloured and the tide is quietly pushing upstream.
Then a flash of silver appears.
For a few seconds you can see the fish clearly beneath the surface.
Then it turns.
The light changes.
And it disappears.
That image became The Silver Brackish Shadow.
The word brackish is particularly important because this is the meeting place of two worlds.
Freshwater flowing down from the land meets saltwater arriving with the tide.
And somewhere between them swims the Thin-lipped Grey Mullet.
Conservation
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet demonstrates why estuaries are such important habitats.
Estuaries are sometimes regarded simply as the final part of a river before it reaches the sea.
In reality, they are extraordinarily productive ecosystems supporting fish, birds and countless other forms of wildlife.
For species such as the Thin-lipped Grey Mullet, they also provide a vital connection between marine and freshwater environments.
Pollution, habitat destruction, poor water quality and alterations to tidal rivers can therefore affect far more than the species permanently living there.
Protecting estuaries means protecting the meeting place between two great aquatic worlds.
Clive’s Reflection
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet reminds me how little we sometimes notice what is happening beneath the surface.
A river may look empty.
An estuary may appear quiet.
Yet beneath that water fish are travelling.
Some are heading upstream.
Others are returning towards the sea.
And amongst them may be the Thin-lipped Grey Mullet, moving almost unnoticed through the changing water.
Perhaps that is why The Silver Brackish Shadow feels so appropriate.
It describes a fish that can appear and disappear with little more than a turn of its silver body.
Another traveller.
Another survivor.
And another reminder that the boundary between river and sea exists far more clearly on our maps than it does in nature.
“Where fresh water meets the tide, a silver shadow passes quietly between two worlds.”