LATEST
NEWS:
13
September 2017
Minke
Whales, Balaenoptera
acutorostrata, are frequently seen
as individuals but rarely in groups, so a pod of twenty Minke
Whales seen off between Douglas
Head and Port
Soderick Bay, off the Isle
of Man, was newsworthy
Jen
Adams (Manx
Whale and Dolphin Watch) said it was "very
unusual to see them foraging en masse" as
they were "solitary creatures.The Herring
are spawning and this is what has attracted so many whales, so close in
to the coast."
Mid
September 2017
Portuguese
Man-o'-War
Photograph
by Martin Cavell
Portuguese
Man-o'-War, Physalia physalis,
have been washed up on widespread western shores from the Isles
of Scilly to Scotland. Beware of
the venomous tentacles that still produce
a severe sting even when stranded ashore. Hundreds
of this venomous siphonophore
were washed up on the sandy beach
at Sennen
Cove, Cornwall.
BMLSS
Jellyfish/Medusa
BMLSS
Siphonophores
September
2017
Violet
Sea Snails
Photograph
by Lisa
Woollett
With
the stranded Portuguese Man-o'-Wars came a pelagic
predator called the Violet Sea Snail,
Janthina
janthina,
"I
found my first Violet Sea Snail,
blown in just east of Perranporth,
Cornwall on the north westerlies. Wonderfully, these gastropods
live upside down at the ocean's surface on a raft of mucus bubbles and
get their colour from eating Portuguese Men-o-war
and By-the-wind Sailors, Vellela
velella."
Zartbooks
(Sea & Cornwall)
9 September
2017
Pompano
Dolphinfish
Angler
Mark
Padfield caught a surprising fish called a
Pompano
Dolphin (or Dorado), Coryphaena
equiselis, off Chesil Beach,
Dorset, This tropical and sub-tropical fish
is so rare in British seas as not to be listed in popular
UK fish books even as a vagrant or occasional capture. It is a migratory
fish found in schools in all oceans.
29
August 2017
Tuna
with a huge shoal of Pilchards
Henley
Spiers Photography
"On
the way out to see the Blue Sharks
we came across an incredibly rare sight, a sardine bait ball being
feasted on by birds and Bluefin Tuna,
Thunnus
thynnus. The action was fast and furious
and over in just moments, but luckily we were able to jump in and get a
few shots!"
16
August 2017
Tuna:
click
on the image for a video
by Beach
& Boat Fishing facebook
A feeding
frenzy by a school of Tuna, Thunnus
thynnus, was witnessed off Falmouth,
Cornwall. This was only the first of numerous reports of feeding shoals
of Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus
thynnus, off the coasts of Cornwall and Wales.
BMLSS
Tuna
14
August 2017
Swordfish:
click
on the image for a video
by Chris Wheeler
A
two metre long Billfish swam by our boat one mile off shore, near
Selsey,
West Sussex. The shark like dorsal fin and long bill could be seen near
the surface as it chased the lure under the boat. The consensus said its
was a Swordfish,
Xiphias
gladius, and
it looked like one to me.
"Chris
Wheeler and I were Plaice fishing, one mile
off shore, near Selsey. We're drifting when Chris spots something at the
stern of the boat. It's a large creature, maybe 5 or 6 feet long. Instinctively
I put a cast in with insanely inappropriate tackle and attempt to draw
the fish in. Astonishingly the fish turns on my tiny lure and lights up
like a Christmas tree! As it follows the lure at speed, towards me on the
bow, we can now clearly see it's a Billfish,
and a beautiful one at that. I will never forget the electric blue back
as it glides under me. We lose sight of the fish and both of us are left
shaking with excitement, raised further when we realise that Chris has
cleverly managed to capture the fish on video."
BMLSS
Swordfish
2 August
2017
A
record breaking three metre long Blue Shark, Prionace
glauca, was caught by angler John
Dines off the coast of Penzance,
Cornwall. Weighing in at 116 kg,
it was a new British record (beating the previous 58-year record of 214
lb
= 97 kg). The shark was returned alive to the English Channel.
BMLSS
Blue Shark
7
July 2017
An
unusually captured Jellynose Fish,
Ijimaia
loppei,
was caught on the Porcupine
Bank, near deep water, south-west of Ireland.
Previous
First Record 2013
British
Marine Life News 2016
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