LATEST
NEWS:
22
June 2018
A
tall black fin appearing above the surface of the water in Plymouth
Sound was thought to be a rare appearance of a Killer
Whale, Orca
orcinus, off the south west coast
of England.
BMLSS
Cetacea
6
June 2018
Common
Octopus
Octopus
vulgaris
Photograph
Gallery by Philip
Shinton
At
the depth of ten metres off the Dorset coast I discovered my first Common
Octopus, Octopus
vulgaris, in thirty years of
diving. This was a very large octopus,
at tip to tip about two metres long and his head was about double the size
of a rugby ball. It seemed about as big as me. Octopuses
are usually nocturnal, but this one was active in the daytime.
The
Common
Octopus is most easily identified, if discovered
in the English Channel, by having two rows of suckers. A hearsay reports
says they were all wiped out in the cold winter of 1963.
This octopus
is a southern species at its northern biogeographical limit in winter off
British coasts.
BMLSS
Octopuses
18
May 2018
A
Bearded
Seal, Erignathus
barbatus, was spotted at Lerwick
in the Shetland Isles.
Bearded
Seals are a non-migratory Arctic species that feed on molluscs including
clams. Visits to the most northerly of the Scottish isles are rare and
newsworthy.
Previous
Report 2013
BMLSS
Seals
British
Marine Life Study Society
facebook
Page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/glaucus/
This
is designed for quick less important chatty news items. Photographs can
be uploaded quickly which is only possible on the Yahoo Group by going
to the web page.
British
Marine Life News 2012
BMLSS
Oil Disasters page
