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Reports of marine wildlife from all around the British Isles, with pollution incidents and conservation initiatives as they affect the fauna and flora of the NE Atlantic Ocean.

LATEST NEWS

3 January 2002
A 2.88 metres long female Pygmy Sperm Whale, Kogia breviceps, was washed up dead on Thurleston Beach in Devon. This is an extremely unusual stranding of a deep sea whale. Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have taken DNA samples in an attempt to discover from which population this whale came from. The cause of death was unknown. This species is much commoner in the southern hemisphere. The presence of a population west of the Bay of Biscay is possible. This whale is classified as a Vagrant in the British Cetacean List.

Report by Martin Gavet (La La Société Guernesiaise)
via the Marine Mammals of the English Channel Smart Group
Further Details
BMLSS Cetaceans

2 January 2002
An empty fuel tanker "Willy" becomes stranded on rocks off Kingsand, near Plymouth, Devon. This is a small 3000 tonne cargo vessel with 90 tonnes of fuel oil. Leaking fuel poses a threat to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) off the coast at Cawsand. However, the main concern is that the ship will explode if the fuel vapours are ignited.
BBC News Report
Oil Tanker Disasters: Oiled Bird Count

1 January 2002
More Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, are washed up dead on Cornish shores. The Hocking family (Sue, Richard, Emma and Rebecca) found eight Triggerfish on Porthtowan beach, Cornwall. 
Reports from Stella Turk (Link)
Previous Report
 



31 December 2001
Thousands of Common Starfish, Asterias rubens, are discovered washed up dead on the shore at Formby, Merseyside, Lancashire. 

Report by Des Ney
26 December 2001
As weather turns colder with nights below zero ° C, scores of dead Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, have been washed up dead on the Cornish coast.
Reports from Stella Turk (Link)

21 December 2001
A Slipper Lobster, Scyllarus arctus, was caught in a lobster pot at a depth of about 60
metres about 3 miles south east of St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly , just before Christmas by Barry Bennett. Realising that it was an unusual and interesting find Barry put it in a display tank, which he maintains in the Harbour Master’s Office in St Mary’s.
Scyllarus arctus is a warm waters species found in the Mediterranean, and in the Eastern Atlantic from Morocco to the English Channel but is rare north of the Bay of Biscay.  They live on stony ground, in caves, and can also be found on muddy bottoms or in seagrass beds.  They use the large spade-like scales at the front of the head to burrow into mud,
sand or gravel between and under stones. Only 15 have been confirmed from British seas all from off Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly or off Plymouth.
Full Report
Full Report (CD-ROM only)

Report from Doug Herdson (National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth)
via the Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Group
  
4 December 2001
The carcass of a young 1.78 metre long female White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, was discovered on the small beach area west of Crovie, in the outer Moray Firth, north-east Scotland. The young dolphin showed signs of injury to its jaw consistent with being attacked. Although this species of dolphin is regularly seen off Stonehaven and Aberdeen, it has only been recorded once in the last five years in the outer Moray.
Report by the Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit via UK Cetnet
CRRU White-beaked Dolphin Information
BMLSS Cetacean Page

1 December 2001
A large 3.5 metre Pilot Whale, Globicephala melas, stranded on the Hannafore Beach at Looe, Cornwall, after first being discovered floating in the sea the day before.  This is just one of several reports of dead whales seen around Cornwall during the month of November.

Report by Jon Makeham
Full Reports from Stella Turk on the Cornish Mailing List (Message 5135)

 

29 November 2001
A Full Moon and spring tides, the second Full Moon in the month is known as a Blue Moon. 


 26 November 2001
A very unusual report of a European Barracuda, Sphyraena sphyraena, was received from Cornwall where net fisherman David Kessell captured one six miles off the Lizard peninsula. The streamlined tropical fish has not been recorded in British seas before. This one weighed about 4.2 kg gutted (9 lb) and it was about 106 cm (nearly 4 ft) long. This fish has been photographed by Phil Monckton (Western Morning News) and verified by Dr Paul Gainey. Of the three species in the family Sphyraenidae found in the North East Atlantic and Mediterranean only Sphyraena sphyraena extends north to the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula and southern Bay of Biscay.
Full Report
Full Report (CD-ROM only)

Report from Doug Herdson (National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth)
via the Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Group

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Seaquest SW (Cornwall Wildlife Trust web pages)

Cornish Marine Wildlife Reports 1999 (by Ray Dennis)