Electronic News Service       July  2000        ISSN  1464-8156

DIARY

SOUTHAMPTON

The Festival of the Oceans is part of the Gateway to the Oceans event year consisting of the following: 

  a.. Ocean Watch - This will consist of educational workshops, an inter-active play zone, exhibitions and demonstrations with the aim of raising the awareness of the general public about environmental issues related to protecting our Oceans and the implications of not investing in their future.

  a.. World Carnival - The World Carnival will celebrate the City's multicultural community and key maritime events through history. Examples of such events include the Empire Windrush docking in Southampton, with the first immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK, the Pilgrim Fathers setting sail on The Mayflower, and those myths and legends surrounding the ocean.
I would mainly like to bring to your attention the Ocean Watch element of the event.  As part of this we will be holding lectures on the evenings of Friday 28th, Saturday 29th and the afternoon of Sunday 30th July. 
 

If you have any questions or require further details, please contact me on Tel: 023 8083 2906 or send an EMail.

Kind regards,
Lisa Smith
Event Management Services
4th Floor, Frobisher House
Nelson Gate, Southampton

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

Leaflet from Devon Wildlife Trust  Tel:  01392 279244.

BOOK NOW   for 12 October 2000
Marine Life Course in Sussex
with Dr Gerald Legg (Booth Museum)

Marine Wildlife: Introduction to Identification

In conjunction with the University of Sussex, Dr Gerald Legg at the Booth Museum of Natural History will be running a marine wildlife course in the autumn.

More Details

Venue:  Booth Museum of Natural History, 194, Dyke Road, Brighton BN1 5AA
Sessions: 10 plus field trips
Day and time: Thursdays 7-30 to 9-30 p.m.
Start:  12th October 2000 
Cost:  £50 normal; £20 retired and unwaged
Contact & further details: Dr Gerald Legg.  Tel. (01273) 292777
fax (10273) 292778
e-mail boothmus@pavilion.co.uk
 
 

Coastal Visitors Centre
Salisbury Gardens
Dudley Road
Ventnor
Isle of Wight
PO38 1EJ

Tel:  01983 855400
EMail: coastcent@iwight.gov.uk

The Centre covers many aspects of the coastal zone, which include coastal flora and fauna, marine and inter-tidal archaeology, coastal defence and particularly coastal instability issues.

Husavik

The Whale Watch capital in Iceland is based at Husavik.  Sights include Blue Whales, Humpbacks, Orca, Minkes and Sei Whales, dolphins, porpoises, plus Northern Bottle-nosed Whales.

The page for whale and dolphin spotting around Britain has not been prepared yet.  If you are interested in marine wildlife, including marine mammals, and are planning a holiday in the UK, especially Scotland, it is work clicking on the image "SeaProbe" and having a look at the page:

Also

New Quay Dolphin Monitoring Group, Cardigan Bay, Wales
http://www.ceinewydd.co.uk/

Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the Moray Firth
http://www.highlanderweb.co.uk/dolphins.htm

Cornwall:
Dolphins are reported from the south coast of Cornwall regularly during the summer. The Lizard peninsula is a good vantage point. 

Shetland Isles:
Sumburgh Head, the southernmost trip is a regular spot for spotting whales and dolphins as is the ferry to the islands.

Shetland Sea Mammal Report 1998

Minimising disturbance to Cetaceans from recreation at sea
http://www.wildlife-countryside.detr.gov.uk/whales/rec.htm

Minimising disturbance to Cetaceans from Whale watching operations
http://www.wildlife-countryside.detr.gov.uk/whales/whale.htm
 

 
19-20 June 200
A pod of 10 White-sided Dolphins, Lagenorhynchus acutus were spotted in the evening and morning off Catfirth (east Mainland) in the Shetland Islands.
News Report 1999 from the Shetlands
Shetland Wildlife Pages Report (link includes other cetacean reports of Killer Whales and Dolphins)
Whale & Dolphin Page (BMLSS)

17 June 200
Two anglers on a charter boat spotted a Billfish jumping out of the sea between the islands of Guernsey and Herm (Channel Islands, English Channel). The fish was not positively identified but it was probably a Swordfish Xiphias gladius.

Report by Richard Lord (Guernsey) & Len Le Page (Guernsey Press)

Further Information and other Swordfish reports (British seas)

16 June 2000
A pod of 12 White-beaked Dolphins, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, were seen off Hermaness (Unst) in the Shetland Islands in the morning and a further 8 were spotted in Lerwick Harbour.
Shetland Wildlife Pages Report (link includes other cetacean reports of Killer Whales and Dolphins)

June 2000
Rohan Holt has discovered several of the attractive sea anemone Amphianthus dohrnii around the Firth of Lorn area off the west coast of scotland. This anemone is usually brown and in British waters is extremely rarely recorded on the brown Sea Fan Eunicella verrucosa. They were found between 25 and 40 metres of water, and deeper, on a dive.

 
 
 

On the east side of Eilean Ddubh Mor (just NW of Lunga, Firth of Lorn) we were finding one and up to six or seven Amphianthus on almost every white Sea Fan Swiftia pallida in sight, which has not been recorded before in British seas. Swiftia pallida was found on slightly silty, moderately tide-swept but wave-sheltered circalittoral bedrock.
 
 
 

Rohan Holt also discovered the very rare anemone Arachnanthus sarsi just off this island (Eilean Ddubh Mor) as well as the more common Fireworks Anemone Pachycerianthus multiplicatus. These anemones were found at depths of between 31 and 35 metres.
 
 
 

More Information
Sea Anemone Homepage (BMLSS)
Rohan Holt's Mantis Shrimp report
Biomar (essential extra information and a photograph of Amphianthus dohrnii on Eunicella verrucosa is contained on this database).
 

The deep water Northern Featherstar  Leptometra celtica was also discovered in these shallow seas around the Firth of Lorn area (Garvellachs, Scarba, Jura etc).
Featherstars Information Page

8 June 2000
WORLD OCEANS DAY

The Adur World Oceans Day proved to be a success,despite a few problems, which means the displays etc. are expected to be an improved for 2001.

Displays occurred the length of Britain and all around the world. Click on the Lobster to go to other pages (on-line).

3 June 2000
A school of 20 to 30 Basking Sharks remained in the St. Ives area, Cornwall,  for more than a day.

from Steve Hollier, on the list collated by Ray Dennis

Basking Sharks 2000 (Cornwall)
 

11 June 2000
A fishermen from Guernsey reported an ovigerous ("in berry") male Spiny Spider Crab, Maja squinado. The crab had the large chelipeds (claws) and other features that characterise the male of this crab. Asymmetrical specimens have been recorded before, some coloured blue. 
More Information and Report Details
Spiny Spider Crab Page

Report by Richard Lord (Guernsey)

22 May 2000
Over the last two weeks Cuttlefish have been found (sometimes by the thousand) on the strandline on both the north and south coasts of Cornwall. Large numbers have also been seen floating on the surface out at sea. On 2 June 2000 Matt Stribley counted over 500 cuttlebones on a 500 metre stretch below Phillack Towans.

Two species are involved, mainly the Common Cuttle, Sepia officinalis, and the rare Sepia orbignyana (5%) which is smaller and has a pink tinge. The cuttlebones of Sepia orbignyana have longer apical spines (Matt Stribley). A range of sizes of the Common Cuttle have been seen and they are complete, with for example, no teeth marks to indicate that they have been eaten.

Reports by Vince Smith & John Worth

In the last issue of Torpedo 48, I made a mistake over the identification of the smaller of the two species of Cuttlefish. In the illustration the species on the left is Sepia orbignyana and on the right Sepia officinalis. Click on the images (when on-line) to lead you to Matt Stribley's Sepia web page, where the differences between the two species are graphically explained.
 
 

There seems to be a lot of both cuttlefishes and squids around this year.
The Cuttlefish probably could have died naturally after spawning, but there were a large numbers of smaller cuttlebones from reduced sized (juvenile?) specimens. AH
 
 

Cornwall Wildlife Trust web pages
Cuttlefish File (BMLSS)
Cuttlefish Pages (Matt Stribley)
 

Under Sea Wind
MAN'S IMPACT ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

 
Information has been received about the proposed use of a chitin-inhibiting insecticide on farmed salmon cages in Scottish seas. 
Chitin is the main component of the exoskeleton of all crustaceans.

Teflubenzuron File (insecticide)
Under Sea Wind (BMLSS)
World Wide Fund for Nature (Global Toxics)

 Biomar Information Page (with links to their web page)

 BMLSS Report Forms

• Andy Horton's regular Shore Watch column in the Aquarist & Pondkeeper magazine has stopped.
• However in the June 2000 issue there is a special World Oceans Day issue on rockpooling on the shore. 

• Buckland Lectures (Link)

An historical outline based on Icelandic, Danish-Icelandic, English and Swedish sources dating from ca 1000 AD to 1792

Ole Lindquist, PhD

Occasional papers 1
the centre for environmental history and policy
Universities of St Andrews and Stirling, Scotland
March 2000

BIOMAR

Picton, B.E. and Costello M. J. (editors). 1998. BioMar biotope viewer: a guide to marine habitats, fauna and flora of Britain and Ireland. Environmental Sciences Unit, Trinity College, Dublin. ISBN 0 9526 735 4 1

Copies are available on request from:
EcoServe, 17 Rathfarnham Road, Terenure, Dublin 6W, Ireland.
Fax + 353-1-492 5694. Email mcostello@ecoserve.ie.
They cost £10 + £2 P & P (standard economy rate).
URL = http://www.ecoserve.ie/biomar/aims.html

The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures that have ever lived, by Colin Tudge

ISBN  0-19-850311-3   £35.00  (Oxford University Press, March 2000)

BMLSS: Marine Life Articles in Publications (Link)
 

 Sue Daly produces a Creature Feature every month on her web site.
 
 
 

We had originally planned to bring this service to our  members. However, as Sue is already producing this series, I have decided to devote my energies to producing other information.
 

     Featured Web Page:

MARLIN
Marine Life Information Network

Some interesting species information is now starting to be included on their site.

A similar exhibition is planned for the year 2001. 
Print photographs should be sent in to Glaucus House. They could also be used on the BMLSS web sites.

However, if you have a large selection of your own photographs, I would suggest that you should arrange your own exhibitions at a Local Library or similar venue. We will help to advertise the event. 
 
 

This is a simple project or request to members and readers of this Bulletin. It is to take pictures of the coast when you are next down on the shore. Even general views have value, but ideally we would like photographs of the shore showing the type of rock, topography and rock pools, dominant fauna, and information that cannot be described adequately by words on the Report Cards. 

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. 

Transparency photographs are the best choice of film.

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

There are more entries on the GATEWAY pages of the BMLSS Web Site and on the Torpedo File on the web site (click on this text).
 

NEW Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions	English and European Wildlife Issues
Coastal Guide   Europe	Living Earth
Cornish Wildlife Vince Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife Send a message to the list at: CornishWildlife@onelist.com This is a really good forum for Cornish wildlife and  environmental discussion.	Seaquest SW  (Cornwall Wildlife Trust web pages)

These pages are not designed for the default settings on the Page Set-ups of your browser. I recommend viewing in Internet Explorer 5 and altering the right and left hand columns in the Page Set-up menu to 9 mm (from 19 mm).
The page set-up can also be amended in Netscape Composer, and this has the advantage of enabling the specified number of pages to be printed and the information about the file (name, path, date) to be deleted.

The new Premier Membership for the year 2000 also entitles the member to the Official BMLSS CD-ROM (available Spring 2000), which will contain the BMLSS web pages and more information about marine life, together with a selection of other exclusive marine life information, electronic back copies of BMLSS publications, and the full version of TORPEDO Electronic News Bulletin sent to them every month by Email, as well as the other BMLSS Electronic Information Services. The CD-ROM will also contain useful shareware and freeware programs, and should be at least as good value as a computer magazine CD-ROM for the second aspect alone.
 
 

Premier	Membership	Ordinary
New Member	£28.00	£22.00
Renewal	£25.00	£18.00

The work of the BMLSS is funded by entirely by member's subscriptions and we do not receive any grants.

Torpedo  compiled by Andy Horton 27 June 2000