19 November 2002
A dead Boar Fish, Capros aper, was brought into the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth for identification. The fishermen call them "Zulus" and used to catch them regularly, but they are now almost unknown in the local catches, but I am told that lots are caught by the beam trawlers fishing for Sole in deep water on the Parson's and Great Sole Banks about 120 miles SW of the Lizard, Cornwall.

18 November 2002

Another large Common Octopus, Octopus vulgaris, is captured alive off the Channel Islands and brought into Guernsey alive but failed to survive the trauma and injury on capture. This is the third one recorded since the beginning of October 2002. 

                               Common Octopus 
                            Photograph  ©  by Richard Lord (Guernsey)
 

Three Common Octopuses were also reported from Cornwall during the first weeks of November 2002.

15 November 2002
After the recent gales, further large numbers of freshly dead Velella are washed up on the Dorset (Studland) coast with over 50 counted in a stretch of strandline of 100 metres. The dead Velella were still coloured blue which showed that that they only recently dead. They disintegrate and turn white over night. There were live specimens at five miles off the Dorset coast. 

13 November 2002
An exceptionally large Electric Ray, Torpedo nobiliana, 25 kg and almost a metre across was brought in alive at Plymouth and it found a home at the Blue Reef Aquarium, Newquay. This ray is rarely seen in Public Aquaria, because of their danger and the difficulty in keeping them. Unfortunately, this specimen was damaged on capture and did not survive its ordeal.

5 November 2002
Collecting a few rocks for aquarium props in fading light on Lancing Beach, West Sussex, on a moonless evening under torchlight, I made my first discovery of the Arch-fronted Swimming Crab, Liocarcinus arcuatus, at low tide. This is the first BMLSS Report  from the shore. The identity of this crab has been confirmed by Dr.Reindert Nijland.

2 November 2002
The capture on rod and line by Peter Weight of a Boar Fish, Capros aper, from Hove beach is the very first record of this fish caught from the shore off Sussex. The books say that this fish lives in depths of over 100 metres and as there are no seas of this depth on the English side of the English Channel. This pretty little red and silver rhomboidal fish about 55 mm long, excluding its caudal fin, large eye and large mouth, with a spiky first dorsal and vibrating second dorsal and second anal fins (vibrating like the dorsal fin of a pipefish). Although this fish is rarely caught, it is abundant in deepish water (on the edge of the continental shelf in the western approaches of the English Channel) and it is just that normal fishing methods do not capture this small fish. All records and especially all live records from the shore or on dives, and all Sussex records are newsworthy. 
This fish is thriving in the BMLSS private aquarium (Shoreham-by-Sea). This fish is rarely on display in British Public Aquaria and the only known display of this fish was for several years at Mevagissey Harbour Aquarium. 
This specimen appeared live on Meridian TV Southern News on 6 November 2002.
On 10 November 2002, after a week in captivity, the Boar Fish commenced to feed on frozen brine shrimp after being initially encouraged with live daphnia. 
Previous Sussex Record of a Boar Fish
Previous Report from the Channel Islands
BMLSS Boar Fish

Late October 2002
A Cornish fisherman reported netting a shoal of 10 stone (140 lb = 64 kg) of these small Boar Fish just 10 miles off the Isles of Scilly whilst fishing for squid. 

30 October 2002
A Mantis Shrimp, Rissoides desmaresti, was captured off Selsey Bill (Pullar Bank), West Sussex. The skipper of a registered fishing vessel operating from Selsey caught the shrimp in his lobster pots. This was only the second he had ever caught in over 20 years commercial fishing from Selsey. Robert Clark, Senior Fishery Officer with the Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee, identified the shrimp to species level.

23 October 2002
An organised whale watching boat trip off West Cork, Ireland, discovered the usual cloud of Gannets diving into the sea with three species of dolphins all feeding on the large fish shoals. 30+ Atlantic White-sided Dolphins Lagenorhynchus acutus, 20+ Common Dolphins  Delphinus delphis, and a small group of four or five Striped Dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba.

11 October 2002
A very large gastropod called the Triton Whelk (now usually called the Triton Shell), Charonia lampas (L.), was discovered in the mouth of the River Fowey, Cornwall, and put on display at Mevagissey Harbour Aquarium. This is a very rare find, and this large gastropod has only been recorded in British seas on a few occasions. It is a southerly species known from the Mediterranean Sea. It may have received assisted passage on the bottom of a boat?

October 2002
Anglers Gareth Larry and Ryan Dalziel caught 20 Redfish (=Ocean Perch), Sebastes marinus, 40 miles north west of Muckle Flagg, Unst, northernmost island of the Shetland Isles, at a depth of 166 metres (91 fathoms) with Coalfish (=Saithe), Pollachius virens. The largest Redfish weighed 1.58 kg (3½ lb) and this will probably qualify as a new species rod and line record for Britain. The Redfish is a common fish of the Lophelia (deep water coral) beds like the Sula Ridge. However, it is a deep water species and in shallow water a similar species Sebastes viviparus, sometimes called the Norway Haddock is sometimes caught. 

Late August 2002
Three specimens of the Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, were discovered about 95 miles east of the Solent in the English Channel. They were picked up during DEFRA sponsored fish habitat studies by the University of Wales Bangor research vessel Prince Madog. Each came up in separate gear deployments, though at a single sampling station. On UWTV the benthic biotope where they came from was seen to be sand with a dense bed of tube worms, Lanice conchilega. All three seahorses were "pregnant" males.

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