Reports of marine wildlife from all around the British Isles, with pollution incidents and conservation initiatives as they affect the flora and fauna of the NE Atlantic Ocean.
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9 January 2005
A post storm check of Thurlestone (south Devon) beach for stranded cetaceans or oiled birds revealed my first ever UK sittings of by the Jack-by-the-Wind-Sailors, Velella velella, several hundred, some as just the chitinous float and sail. I have never noticed them before in Britain but I saw millions on beaches in SW Corsica last May. There was no sign of the predatory Violet Sea Snails, Janthina sp., often (rarely in the UK) associated with this creature or tropical seeds but three species of Cuttlefish were present in reasonable numbers.
Lots of Large (Turban) Topshell, Gibbula magus, and Necklace (Moon) Shells Polinices sp. were washed up on Slapton Sands, Devon.

2 January 2005
A juvenile Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, was discovered on a remote north Cornish beach at Gwithian, near Hayle. This is unusual as it is usually Common Dolphins, Delphinus delphis, that are washed up, often killed in fishing nets with a total of 220 recorded in 2004. 
In this case it seemed to be heavily scarred with fresh "rake marks", wounds inflicted by the sharp teeth of one or more other dolphins, which may have attacked the individual. This behaviour has been seen in Bottle-nosed Dolphins off America.
It is not known why they occasionally attack one another but fatalities appear to be
confined to fights between males. If the post-mortem confirms that this was the case, it will be the first recorded incident of its kind in the UK.
Link to Photographs

1 January 2005
A Sunfish, Mola mola, was washed up on the beach at West Runton, near Sheringham, north Norfolk. 
 

Although this fish is frequently seen off the south and western coasts of Britain during the summer and autumn, sightings and strandings in the North Sea are much less common.

December 2004 to January 2005
There are at least a dozen reports of at least 16 Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, being found washed up dead on Cornish beaches, and these are probably only a fraction of the actual strandings. 
Fish Strandings in Cornwall
There were also dead Triggerfish reports from the Channel Islands.
BMLSS Triggerfish

8 December 2004
A pod of seven White-beaked Dolphins, Lagenorhyncus albirostris, off Dungeness, Kent. They gave a spectacular display including leaping clear of the water as they fed and were in view for most of the afternoon. I have looked at the sea on an almost daily basis at Dungeness since 1989 and this is the first time I have seen White-beaked Dolphins.

7 December 2004
Commercial fisherman Andy Le Prevost trawling on the Lady Patricia caught a Almaco Jack, Seriola rivoliana, (originally identified as a Guinean Amberjack, Seriola carpenteri),  on the south-west Casquet bank, near the Channel Islands, at night.
ID Details
The fish was caught at a water depth of 25 metres. The fish was small (length: 30.7 cm, weight: 637 grams) and similar in size to the specimen caught by George Staples east of Herm Island on 7 September 2000. The sea temperature was 11.7°C. My records indicate that this is the fourth confirmed Amberjack species caught in Channel Island waters.
Full Details
Previous Record

6 December 2004
A 40 cm long Oriental Flying Gurnard, Dactyloptena orientalis, was hauled up in a herring net less than a mile from Penzance. The fish is being kept at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay after skipper Tony Richards, from St. Ives, kept it alive. 

“We were in only about 15 metres depth and were hauling up our herring nets by hand. It was the last fish in the net. I could feel by touching that it was an extraordinary specimen — its skin is armoured. It had a flat head and when I picked it up it spread its wings. They are as wide as the fish is long, about 40 cm. 
“It is a beautiful animal. Its wings are all different colours: blue, red, yellow and grey. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years at sea. It’s an incredible beast.” 

1 December 2004
Guernsey commercial fisherman Steve Fallaize landed a handsome Couch's Sea Bream, Pagrus pagrus, on weighing 2688 grams whole (5.93 lb). The fish was netted in a water depth of about 20 to 25 metres over a mixed shell-gravel bottom off Guernsey's west coast. This is the largest Couch's Sea Bream that I have recorded in Guernsey.
Small Couch's Sea Bream have been frequently landed in recent years around the Channel Islands, but this is a southern fish and it is uncommon any further north. 
 

Red Sea Bream were common during the 1970s but disappeared from his catches after 1984.  Black Sea Bream were also almost completely absent from his angling catches during the 1980s but have, in the last five years, made a spectacular comeback.

Each month, at least one special marine image will be published from images sent to the BMLSS. This can be of the seashore, undersea world or any aspect of the marine natural world, especially the underwater life, but not restricted to life beneath the waves. Topical inclusions may be included instead of the most meritorious, and images will be limited to the NE Atlantic Ocean and adjoining seas, marine and seashore species and land and seascapes.

Is anybody able to identify the piece of jaw I found on Aldeburgh shingle beach on 31 December 2004. The strip is 27 cm long, the base of the teeth are about 12 mm in width and their height are 8 mm. The strip seems to be made of cartilage so I suppose shark or dogfish (but probably too big for a dogfish). Query and Photograph by John Walters QUERY TWO The two photos attached were taken in different years but both in March.  Both deposits of eggs were nestled in a crevice and completely out of the water during low tide.  They were deposited at the mid-shore level. In relation to other eggs I find on the shore these eggs were quite large but I do not have exact measurements - certainly each egg was well over 1 mm in diameter.  The orientation of the photo indicates the orientation of the eggs. Query and Photograph by Richard Lord (Guernsey)

British Sea Anemones Two studies of the Sagartia troglodytes sea anemone which is very common on the Sussex coasts where  there is a minimum of shelter.  The background picture in the left column shows a typical Sagartia troglodytes habitat with chalk bedrock partly covered with sand.

The name of the particular coast should be included and the grid reference, if known. Print photographs can be included in Exhibitions and on the BMLSS Web Sites and electronic publications. Electronic images in *.JPG format can also be considered for the web site. They should not exceed 150K in size.

Photographers submitting pictures should indicate if they wish them to be considered for inclusion as confirming permission takes work and time and can delay publication of the news bulletins. 

Shore Topography Portfolio
 

Click on the album for more links (On-line link)
 
 

PORCUPINE MARINE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Offers of talks and/or posters, either on the theme or on any appropriate subject, are welcome now. We shall attempt to accommodate talks of from 20 to 30 minutes into the programme. Please specify equipment requirements.

Speakers so far include:
 

Marine fish & invertebrates
of Northern Europe
Frank Emil Moen & Erling Svensen

In May 2004 the English edition of the very popular Norwegian Marine Fauna (Dyreliv I havet) was published. Prof. David Bellamy has written the foreword. 

More than one thousand underwater photographs  and 608 pages with updated information on marine fish and invertebrates from nearly all marine phylum in Northern European waters. The largest newspaper in Norway, Aftenposten gave the Norwegian edition 6 out of 6 points in a book review. It is in use at all major higher marine biology studies in Norway. 

The English edition is translated by Prof Fredrik Pleijel and Dr. Sabine Cochrane. 
The book is available from Aquapress in the UK, Skandisk, Inc. USA and KOM in Norway .

The British Marine Life Study Society are responsible for producing the journal GLAUCUS, which is the first publication exploring the marine life of the seas surrounding the British Isles available to the general public. 

We also publish the SHOREWATCH Newsletter and
the TORPEDO Electronic News Bulletin.

The Glaucus 2002 CD-ROM was sent out to Premier BMLSS members in January 2003.

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Change of EMail Address
 

Please note that the EMail address for messages to the British Marine Life Study Society has now changed

from bmlss@compuserve.com to Glaucus@hotmail.com

Messages to the first address will not receive any guarantee of a reply and from year 2003, the old EMail address is expected to fall into disuse. 

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Membership 2005
Plans have not yet been finalised for the publications and subscriptions for year 2005. 
 

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