The British Marine Life Study Society Web Site has been included as an Encylopaedia Britannica Recommended Site and included on the BBC On-line Internet Guide.See Gateway below.

CONTENTS

Some events are grouped under the organiser and this messes up the strict chronological order.
Scroll down the page to have a look.

Beachwatch '98
Buckland Lectures
Challenger Society
Devon WWT: Wembury Rock Pools
Helford VMCA
International Diary  (Separate Web Page)
Kent Marine Group
Marine Conservation Society
Seas at Risk
UK Oceanography 98

Helford VMCA Diary 1998

Field Trips on:
Sunday 25 October 1998 -
"Unravelling rocks and climatic change on the Helford River"
a coastal walk with Pat Sargeant 2.00 - 4.30 p.m.
Rosemullion to Durgan. Meet at Mawnan Church car park above Parson's Beach, Helford River (SW 7878 2723).
Bring weatherproof clothing, robust footwear and refreshments as required.

Ring Pamela Tompsett  Tel:   01872 273939 for more details.
Pamela Tompsett   EMail petomp@cornwt.demon.co.uk

(BMLSS file:  Black 67) 

8 November (Sunday).  Seasalter. Meet at Blue Anchor Corner TR 082 650.
 8.30 AM.  Mud flats and clay shore, tiles and mussel beds.

All enthusiasts welcome.

Contact:  Ian Tittley  EMail

(BMLSS file:  Black 67) 

Wembury Bay  Rockpool Rambles
Contact  Wembury Marine Centre  Tel:  01752 862538

Leaflet from Devon Wildlife Trust  Tel:  01392 279244.

BUCKLAND LECTURES 1998

Dr Martin Angel, the Buckland Professor for 1998, will give public lectures on the topic of

“The Deep-Ocean: Use and Misuse”

on Monday, 7 September at 19.30 h within the programme of Oceanography 98 at
Southampton Oceanography Centre

on Wednesday, 9 September at 16.50 h within the programme of the
1998 BAAS meeting in Cardiff

and on Thursday, 29 October at 15.30 h at the University of Stirling

Each of these sessions is open to any member of the public without charge.

For more details of the three lectures please contact John Ramster, the Clerk to the Buckland Foundation via jramster@lineone.net or phone/fax UK: 01505  615402
or by post at 3 Woodside Avenue, Bridge of Weir.  PA11 3PQ.

 UK OCEANOGRAPHY 98

 7-11 September 1998
 Southampton Oceanography Centre

 EMail: ukoc98@soc.soton.ac.uk
 EMail for the Challenger Society  jxj@soc.soton.ac.uk

 UK Oceanography Web Site

Beachwatch '98

Clean-up the Beach Weekend
Organised by the
Marine Conservation Society
9 Gloucester Road
Ross-on-Wye
Herefordshire
HR9 5BU

Tel: 01989 566017   Fax: 567815  EMail: mcsuk@mcmail.com

Marine Conservation Society
Annual Conference

David Bellamy will launch the Marine Conservation Society's Annual Conference on the marine environment.

at  Boldrewood Conference Centre, University of Southampton

Full programme of speakers for Saturday &  Sunday.

Contact: MCS Tel: 01989 566017   Fax: 567815   EMail: mcsuk@mcmail.com

Speakers include: Sue Daly, Sarah Fowler, Ken Collins, Chris Wood, Elizabeth Wood, Bob Earll, Robert Irving,
 

MARINE WILDLIFE NEWS

• 16 August 1998
• A pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus were spotted by the Shoreham lifeboat crew from their boat, out on an exercise. Three days later observed swimming from the shingle beach, about 50 metres offshore, near Hove lagoon, Sussex (near Shoreham Harbour).  All species of dolphins are rarely seen off Sussex and there were no reports from 1997. The heatwave from 7 August continues and the temperatures have reached 28⁰C every day for nearly two weeks on the Sussex coast. .

• 15 August 1998
• 8 - 10 specimens of the uncommon Red Band Fish Cepola rubescens, were discovered swimming in a vertical position above their burrows in Portland Bay, Dorset.
• Forum Report by Simon Hamner.
• On 22 August 1998 Peter Glanvill observed Red-Band Fish near the wreck of the Countess of Erne (Portland Harbour).

• c. 11 August 1998
• A massive 2 metre long Halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus, was caught by fishermen and brought into Aberdeen. It weighed 135 kg (298 lb). Although in the past Halibut up to 2.5 metres long were reported, these fish no longer get the opportunity to attain this size. They are caught before they grow to their maximum size.
• Report from Ruth Hughes, Westminster Mail & Times.
• The largest fish caught on rod and line from a boat in British seas weighed 106 kg (234 lb) and was caught by C. Booth off Dunnet Head, north Scotland, in 1979.
• In 1957 a fish of about 227 kg (500 lb) was landed by commercial fishermen at Grimsby.
• The World Angling Record for Halibut is from Norwegian seas. The largest Hippoglossus hippoglossus caught on rod and line from a boat in Norway weighed 161.2 kg and was caught at Valevågsbråtet the 20th of October 1997. I don't know the commercial record, but the biggest Hippoglossus hippoglossus caught on Iceland (I think the biggest ever caught) was 3.65 m long and weighed 266 kg.
• Information of the largest fish from Norway and Iceland was provided by Pål Enger.

• 6 August 1998
• A pod of at least 6 Killer Whales, Orcinus orca, are seen in Sandwick Bay, SE Unst, Shetland Isles.

Further information including photographs on the Shetland News Web Site
• Also, see below.

• August 1998
• Mumbles Pier, Swansea, SW Wales, is a good place for non-divers to see the Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus. For the last decade they have regularly to the pier to feed on the large clumps of mussels that adorn the pier supports. In the clear shallow water they can be seen clearly from above and they will move along under the pier with the human watcher. This is certainly because they are fed by the visitors.
• Report by Jim Hall.
•  
• 
•  
• Triggerfish off Dorset (BMLSS Scotland)
• Triggerfish in Rare Fish Records (BMLSS Ireland)
• Triggerfish (UK Aquarium Database)
•  
•  In October 1997, a school of about 1000 Triggerfish were reported at a dive site called Stack Rocks, near Littlehaven, SW Wales.

• 9 August 1998
• Scores of bathers are injured by the sharp shellfish (mollusc) known as the Razorfish, Ensis ensis, on Paignton Beach, Devon, on a very low tide. Razorfish live buried under the sand, but will rise to the surface of the sand to feed. Many of the Razorfish seem to have died with the sharp remains of the shell above the surface of the sand in the shallow water.
•  
•         Razorshell

• 8 August 1998
• The Minke Whale (see below) becomes stranded on the Mersey mudflats at low tide. The 6 tonne whale was towed back out to sea a second time and never seen again.

• 7 August 1998
• A Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, swam into the Mersey estuary at Hayle and seems unable to return to the open waters of the Irish Sea.
• In a mini heat-wave, the temperatures reach 29⁰C on the English Channel coast.

Andy Horton spends a year examining the biology and behaviour of the rock pool fish and other marine life. Click on the titles to access the web sites.

• Marine Nature Conservation News
• May 1998  Last Issue published by:
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• Tel:  01733 562626 (Switchboard)

• Summer 1998
• Marine Conservation Society journal
• Basking Shark fully protected in British seas

Marine Reserves needed by Callum Roberts

NEW BOOKS

It is published by :
KOM Forlag as
Vågeveien 10
N-6500 Kristiansund
Norway
Phone: +47 71 67 83 00
Fax: +47 71 67 83 60
(I have not yet seen this publication)

BOOK REVIEWS

£13.95

ISBN  185279108-X

This is a general introductory book that should appeal to both divers and rockpoolers.
The 170 photographs of the common species and some unusual ones are mostly excellent and taken underwater. They are accompanied by some well written text, designed to appeal to the novice, with enough extra information for the experienced.
The ones that stand out are the prawn Periclimenes sagittifer, the Ormer Haliotis tuberculata (which would have looked good on the front cover), and the isopod Anilocra on Taurulus bubalis. There are other photographs that are rarely seen like the burrowing sea anemone Peachia cylindrica, the Carpet Coral Hoplangia durotrix, and bryozoans, squids and sponges.

Available from:

TFH/KINGDOM BOOKS
10 THE SPINNEY
PARKLANDS
FOREST ROAD
WATERLOOVILLE
PO7 6AR

Tel:  01705 268122

Please mention the British Marine Life Study Society with your order.

  Click on this for the web site for sample pictures and information

FEATURED SPECIES

A New Series as part of the TORPEDO initiative is planned for 1998. This will feature a selected species of fish, crab, molluscs, sea anemone or some other invertebrate every month. If you wish to receive this service please indicate.

Torpedo EMail:  Glaucus@hotmail.com

This service has fallen foul of the computer breakdown. Try the following web pages:

GATEWAY: NEW LINKS TO OTHER SITES

UK BIODIVERSITY
FISHBASE FISHFINDER
CHANNEL ISLANDS MARINE WILDLIFE PAGE
NORWEGIAN MARINE WILDLIFE
PUBLIC AQUARIA DATABASE
SHETLAND NEWS WEBSITE
BRITISH MARINE FISH DATABASE (UK SEA FISHING)
Please see our entry in the BBC Web Guide (NATURE) (FISH)
SHARK TRUST (EUROPEAN ELASMOBRANCH ASSOCIATION BRITISH BRANCH)
FRANK BUCKLAND & THE BUCKLAND FOUNDATION
MARLIN Marine Life Information Network