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| The
Glaucus 2001 CD-ROM has
been sent out to Premier Members for last year. This information packed
disc contains the British Marine Life Study Society
web pages and other wildlife information (some not available through
the web site). This was a limited distribution copy because of technical
difficulties and the the next CD-ROM to be produced will be the Glaucus
2002 CD-ROM. New 2002 members subscribing for the CD-ROM will receive the
beta version until the tested copy is available. |
MARINE WILDLIFE
NEWS
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.
16
July 2002
A
pod of twenty
Common Dolphins, Delphinus delphis,
and
three Porpoises,
Phocoena
phocoena, were spotted by Paul Semmens
off Kenidjack, Cornwall (SW 3632).
14
July 2002
A
Spiny
Spider Crab,
Maja squinado,
aggregation at St. Agnes, Cornwall was seen by friends when snorkelling.
 And
a Spiny Spider Crab
aggregation seen by myself at Seatown, Dorset.
Interestingly
they seem to be at the same spot I last saw them ten years ago i.e.
straight out from the car park on the line between the sand and the shingle
slope. Most had recently moulted and were all roughly the same size.
Their numbers ran into the thousands. Why they congregate here I
don't know. Just 250 metres down the beach to the west there were
none.
Spider
Crabs (Shoreham Beach)
7 July
2002
A badly
decomposed Cuvier's Beaked Whale,
Ziphius
cavirostris, was washed up on Gwynver Beach, Whitsand Bay, Cornwall
(SW
362275). It was about 5 metres long.
BMLSS
Cetacea
4 July
2002
Three
Leatherback
Turtles, Dermochelys coriacea,
were found on three separate Cornish beaches alive at Millook Haven, 6
km south of Bude on the north coast, and Perran Sands (SW
7655), with a dead specimen washed up at on
the strandline of Watergate Bay, Cornwall.
BMLSS
Turtles
EuroTurtle
The
Marine
Conservation Society have produced a laminated Turtle Advice Sheet
(endorsed
by DEFRA). The guide contains reports numbers and advice.
Public
Exhibition of the Lancing rocky Sea Defence
Plan on the seaward side of Widewater
Lagoon, Lancing, West Sussex. The most controversial proposal seems
to the the inclusion of a seawater pipeline.
Information
Page
Search
for the Lagoon Cockles (& Sea Anemone)
9
July 2002
 Live
small cockles (new recruits of a breeding population) have now been discovered
at depths of 20 cm in Widewater, which was about
a metre deep near the bridge. This is the Lagoon
Cockle,
Cerastoderma glaucum,
although when the cockles are small (12 mm width) they do not have the
shape of the full grown ones, so they initially looked to me like Common
Cockles, Cerastoderma edule. Actually, whilst they are alive
there does not seem to be an easy way to distinguish them as it is the
interior groove differences that are diagnostic. The shell is thinner and
the Lagoon Cockle is brittler and the live
shell can be easily prised open with a fingernail which is much harder
with the Common Cockle, even small ones. The Shore
Crab, Carcinus maenas, would find
these shells very easy to crack open.
BMLSS
Cockles
The
black ooze (mud substrate) also revealed Nereis (ragworms), lugworms
and other assorted worms. The tiny gastropod Hydrobia was plentiful
as expected. There were also a few sediment-dwelling attachment type sea
anemones discovered, although these were not Edwardsia
ivelli. At the time of writing, they
have not been identified.
3
July 2002
A
very badly decomposed and smelly Sperm
Whale, Physeter catodon, is washed
up at the beach at historic Hopetoun House near South Queensferry on the
Firth of Forth, east Scotland. The 10 metre long whale is estimated to
weigh about 8 tonnes, and this posed a massive environmental disposal problem.
The beach was closed because of the horrid smell.
1997
Forth Sperm Whale stranding
2 July
2002
A
pod of nine Killer
Whales, Orcinus orca, were seen
off Noss (east of Lerwick) in the Shetland Islands early in the morning,
heading south. They were later seen off Fladabister (5 miles south of Noss
on Mainland) at about 5:30 pm.
On
12
July 2002, a pod of eight were seen off Sandwick,
(a further five miles south of Fladabister) and again off Sumburgh at the
extreme south of Shetlands. This may be the same pod?
 26
June 2002
A
jellyfish
was discovered alive in a rockpool on Worm's
Head, the "wurm"-shaped rock island connected at low tide by a causeway
to the western end of the Gower peninsular at the southern end of Rhossili
Bay in south Wales. The jellyfish has been identified as the Blue Jellyfish,
Cyanea
lamarckii. Inverted the jellyfish was white underneath. It quickly
righted itself.
Link
to a higher resolution image
Amongst
the mixed rocks, another much larger jellyfish was also washed up dead.
Link
to a higher resolution image
BMLSS
Jellyfish
BMLSS
Cnidaria
Cnidarian
Mailing List
22
June 2002
The
Phocine
Distemper Virus has been identified as
the cause of a new increased total of 461 Common
Seals,
Phoca vitulina, carcasses
tested in Denmark, with a further 150 in Sweden and dead seals also recovered
on the shores of the Netherlands.
First
Report for 2002
Ananova
News Report
BMLSS
Seals
|
|
The
British Marine Life Study Society web pages are available for permanent
reference on the CD-ROM.
The
Homepage can now be accessed by typing in:
http://www.glaucus.co.uk
Sub-directories
cannot be accessed directly through this domain.
Please
send any reports of missing links and images to: Glaucus@hotmail.com
FORUM
MARINE
WILDLIFE
of
the NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC OCEAN
EFORUM
PAGE (LINK TO)
Forum
for discussion about the marine life of the North-east Atlantic Ocean,
including the North Sea, English Channel and all the seas around the British
Isles including Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands,
Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal.
 This
page can be used by members to report finds, ask questions, queries over
identification, concerns about environmental issues etc. This eForum is
participated in by members of many groups studying the marine environment.
Go to menu bar above and click on Database and then on Marine Life Organisations
to find a list of web sites.
Photographs
and illustrations are best uploaded to the Document Vault and should not
exceed 75K in size (*.JPG).
Smart
Groups was out of operation for one week in June, but it is now working.
The Message Archive "Search Messages" facility is promised to be working
again during July 2002. |
|
DIARY
In
chronological order, the most recent events are at the top of the page.
Events open to the public, free or for a nominal charge only are included.
Most Seminars need to be booked in advance
BIOSIS
Conference Calendar for Zoology
(Major
Link of all biological conferences around the world)
27
- 28 July 2002
National
Whale and Dolphin Watch Weekend
http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/events.htm
Click
here for full details of the National Whale and Dolphin Watching Weekend
and how you can get involved.
The
Sea Watch Foundation are inviting you to take part in the UK's first ever
National Whale and Dolphin Watch Weekend, aimed at providing a snapshot
picture of the numbers and variety of whales, dolphins and porpoises to
be seen around the British Isles.
New
born
Bottle-nosed Dolphin
with adult, 19 May 2001,
swimming against flood tide, and shallow water
Photograph
by Nicolas Jouault, Jersey
Manned
Sites
A number
of the prime sites will be manned by National Whale and Dolphin Watch co-ordinators.
A list of manned sites is available along with contact details for all
regional co-ordinators.
Alternatively,
please click an area of coastline on the map on the web site above for
more details about the event in that area.
SAMS
Seminar Series
The Scottish
Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory,
Dunbeg, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA
Tel: 01631 559000 Fax: 01631 559300
Email: mail@dml.ac.uk
For more details/how to find SAMS
see our website: http://www.sams.ac.uk
Unless otherwise stated, seminars are
held on Fridays at 4:15 pm
in the SAMS Conference Room
** Followed by the Friday R&R **
| 12
July |
David
Nairn
(SAMS / UHI) |
Mechanoreception
in halibut larvae |
| 9
August |
Aditee
Mitra
(SAMS / UHI) |
Of
Microbes and Models..... |
| 23
August |
Dr
Kate Willis
(SAMS) |
Toxicity
of sea lice medicines to non-target marine copepods. |
| 6
September |
Sarah
Swann
(SAMS) |
Fish
otoliths – a mine of information? |
|
|
Southampton
Oceanography Centre
|
Marine
Life Talks 2002
|
Southampton
Oceanography Centre
|
| 4th
July |
Camouflage,
commensalism and critters
-
Alex Mustard |
| 1st
August |
Marine
life of SE England - Lisa Browning |
| 5th
September |
Walking
the dog whelk - Simon Bray |
| 3rd
October |
|
| 7th
November |
Fishy
tales - Peter Henderson |
All
welcome, entry by free ticket only. Children under 12 must be
accompanied
by a responsible adult. Please send s.a.e. to:
Daphne Woods at SOES, Southampton Oceanography Centre, Southampton SO14
3ZH.
Stating
the DATE, TITLE of the TALK, and NUMBER of tickets required. Entrance to
Southampton Oceanography Centre is through Dock Gate 4, please ask for
a map if required. Free parking on site, wheelchair access and facilities
for those with disabilities.
For
further information contact Daphne on 023 8059 5075 or
email
dw1@soc.soton.ac.uk
|
Diary Page
(Link)
GATEWAY:
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
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. The logos for the various organisations have been removed to
reduce the size of this file.
Quick
reference links:
PUBLICATIONS
NEW CD-ROM
This CD-ROM has
not been extensively tested yet. It proves an interesting introduction,
but not a comprehensive guide. For the practical method of trying to put
a name to an plant or animal you find in the wild, it is not inclusive
enough.
Available through
the Kent Ornithological Society.
NOW AVAILABLE WITH
THE CD-ROM
THE SPECIES
DIRECTORY OF THE MARINE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE BRITISH ISLES AND SURROUNDING
SEAS.
Edited
by C. Howson and B. Picton
Ulster
Museum & the Marine Conservation Society 1997.
About
£27.50 (including CD-ROM 1999)
The
project to collate the species that live in the seas off Britain is an
ongoing project. The Directory is a list of all the species grouped systematically
according to their scientific names, with a comprehensive bibliography.
The 1997 edition, not available until 1998, is the latest list and is useful
on the rare occasions (about once a week for me) that I have to look up
a vagrant, unusual species that is not listed in the usual identification
books.
Now
available with the CD-ROM, this proves useful list of all the species for
professionals, but it could be improved to make it more useful, e.g. facilities
for biological recording and an interchange with Recorder 2000.
MCS
books On-Line
BMLSS:
Marine Life Articles in Publications (Link)
PHOTOGRAPHS
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.
NW
Cheminee, Les Minquiers
Photograph
by Nicolas Jouault
Les
Minquiers is a group of islands and islets .16 miles south of Jersey
and 21 miles north of the French coast. They are noted for their rich intertidal
marine life and although not inhabited permanently they receive visitors
in the summer months
Directory
of Islands
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 100K in size.
 Click
on the album for more links (On-line link)
Shore
Topography Portfolio
|
| Printing
the two column version of Torpedo (from issue 28)
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. |
FULL MEMBERS 2002
British
Marine Life Study Society membership information was sent out with the
Shorewatch
newsletter in January 2002.
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