MEMBERSHIP FORM

British Marine Life Study Society Members may be interested to know what has happened to the year 2000 issue of Glaucus.

I was hoping to announce the issue was back from the printers today but this is not the case. 

After delays for lots of reasons, including computer printer failure, Glaucus is finally at the printers (and has been for 2 weeks). 
Unfortunately, the printers had technical problems followed by a massive equipment failure and the issue will not be out until 5 March 2001 at the earliest.

Renewal Subscription Forms for year 2001 will not be sent until then.
 

The Glaucus 2000 CD-ROM is still under preparation as well. With both Glaucus and the CD-ROM, I could have rushed the job and finished the issues before the end of this year. Unfortunately, this would have meant that more errors than acceptable would have crept in the final publications. 
 

 
Diary Page (Link)

Southampton Oceanography Centre 2001 4th January     Running a Marine Aquarium  Jenny Mallinson 1st February   The Secret Life of the Lobster   Phil Smith 1st March   To be announced 5th April  To be announced 3rd May   Wrasse Watching  Ken Collins 7th June   To be announced For more information, contact: Jenny Mallinson Tel:  023 80 596299

Clicking on the Dolphin links to a BMLSS Cetacean web page on the Internet for links to dolphin watching sites in the NE Atlantic Ocean and around the British Isles as well links for lots of whale and dolphin reports.  The Whale watching information was included in previous issues of Torpedo, but the bulletin has now been streamlined to avoid repetition.

31 January 2001 Small Couch's Sea Bream, Pagrus pagrus, have been numerous around Guernsey so far this year. The Guernsey Fishermen's Trading Company says they have seen dozens.  One fisherman operating a small trawler / potter landed to a retailer 16 all weighing about 340 grams (12 oz) each. The neighbouring retailer in the Town Market had 6 small Couch's Sea Bream delivered. Couch's Sea Bream, also called the Common Sea Bream, reach their most northerly point of distribution in the English Channel and are not regularly recorded, although year 2000 was graced with quite a number of reports of sea bream from more southerly seas.  Report by Richard Lord (Guernsey)    28 January 2001 Jean Lawman and others spotted a large 8-10 metre long Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, off Porthcurno, Cornwall. This specimen was larger than one seen earlier in January. Report by Stella Turk via the Cornish Wildlife Mailing List     January 2001 Luke Richards discovered a blue specimen of the Common Hermit Crab, Pagurus bernhardus from the east coast of the Isle of Wight. The legs and body of this hermit crab are usually orange and cream. A parasitic rhizocephalan barnacle is suspected to be responsible for this phenomenon and the exact species is still a subject of discussion on the "Wet Thumb" Smart Group. Discussion Link 22 January 2001 Andy Horton attended the Marine Life Biological Recording Workshop organised by the Marine Biological Association of the UK & Marlin on behalf of the British Marine Life Study Society Report (Link) 12 January 2001 Jim Hall discovered the curious lamellarid mollusc calledLamellaria perspicua on a bare boulder on the extreme lower shore (on a spring tide) of Lydstep beach, 3 miles from Tenby, SW Wales.  This prosobranch molluscs has also been discovered by Jon Makeham at Hannafore Beach, Looe, Cornwall. January 2001 A large Common Octopus, Octopus vulgaris, was caught by a Cornish trawlerman Alan Nudd and housed at Newquay "Blue Reef" Aquarium.It was a large specimen with a span including the arms of 150 cm (5 ft). Common Octopuses are common in the Mediterranean but unusual in the English Channel., with only a handful reported each year. However, the smaller Curled Octopus, Eledone cirrhosa, is found off most British coasts.  Report by Clive Bremner (from Metro News, a free London newspaper) 7 January 2001 Several hundred Long-spined Bullheads, Taurulus bubalis, were found up washed on the strandline on Lancing beach, West Sussex. This has has not been recorded before.  It was breeding time for these small fish.  Report by Robert Clark, Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee    7 January 2001 A pod of 20-25 Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, were reported to us off Noirmont (SW Jersey). Bottle-nosed Dolphins are seen regularly around Jersey in the first 2 months of the year.  The common spot to see them is the Gorey Bank. On a clear day they can be seen with the naked eye. Report by Nicolas Jouault   1 January 2001 An oiled Gannet is reported from Widewater Lagoon, Lancing, Sussex. This was the first sign of a much greater oil spill off the Sussex coast with scores of oiled Guillemots and other birds. Sussex RSPCA, Tel: 0300 1234 999. Report by Ray Hamblett

Under Sea Wind

MAN'S IMPACT ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

 
UK Environment and Planning
Under Sea Wind (BMLSS)
World Wide Fund for Nature (Global Toxics)

Official Marine Nature Conservation Review (JNCC) Report Forms
 http://www.jncc.gov.uk/marine/mainfs.asp?page=/mit/recfrm.htm

 Biomar Information Page (with links to their web page)

 BMLSS Report Forms
 

MARINE WILDLIFE  of the NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC OCEAN EFORUM PAGE   (LINK TO)

WET THUMB (Marine Aquariology) EFORUM PAGE

 January 2001
Ancient Origin of the Hox Gene Cluster
David E.K. Ferrier and Peter W.H. Holland

The Hox Gene Cluster has a crucial function in body patterning during animal development. How and when this gene cluster originated is being clarified by recent data from Cnidaria, a basal animal phylum. The characterization of Hox-like genes from Hydra, sea anemones and jellyfish has revealed that a Hox gene cluster is extremely ancient, having originated even before the divergence of these basal animals.

Article in:
Nature Reviews 
January 2001, Vol. 2 No. 1
http://www.nature.com/reviews

 
BMLSS: Marine Life Articles in Publications (Link)

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.
 

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).
 

GATEWAY PAGES ON THE BMLSS WEB SITE FOR LINKS TO OTHER MARINE LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS	GATEWAY PAGES ON THE BMLSS WEB SITE FOR LINKS TO OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL AND MARINE LIFE ORGANISATIONS
Cornish Wildlife Vince Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife	Seaquest SW (Devon & Cornwall) (Cornwall Wildlife Trust web pages)
	EVERY SINGLE FISH IN ALL THE SEAS AND EVERY SINGLE RIVER, LAKE AND DRAINAGE DITCH
	Marine Nature Conservation Review Survey Database  (MERMAID)
	'Strandwerkgroep'(Beachworkgroup)
	MARLIN  (Marine Life Information Network)
	National Biodiversity Network National Biodiversity Network (Search)

UK Environment and Planning EFORUM PAGE

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, 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.
 

Membership 2000	Premier	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.