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.
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21 April 2003
A 15 metre long male Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, was stranded alive on the English Channel (le Manche) coast at Oye-plage (west of Dunkerque), France, but it died the following night.
Report (in French)

Report by Nicolas Jouault on the 
Marine Mammals of the English Channel Smart Group

19 April 2003
The discovery of a Giant Goby, Gobius cobitis, found in a rockpool above the half tide mark at Les Écréhous, Jersey, was a notable discovery. This goby is a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act Schedule 5. It has always been known from the shores of Jersey but it is virtually unknown on the northern English Channel coasts with occasional records from Cornwall only. As it name indicates this goby is a 'giant' amongst the Gobiidae, a family of small fishes. The Giant Goby attains lengths of up to 25 cm. 
BMLSS Gobies
 

Report by Nicolas Jouault on the Channel Islands Wildlife Watch Smart Group
and on the Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Group

Report by Mike Guye via the Wet Thumb Smart Group

5 April 2003
A Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is washed up dead on the Norfolk coast. This time a 15 metre long whale became stranded on an isolated sandbank on Stiffkey Marshes (NW of Wells-next-to-Sea). The remote location has meant that even to get a glimpse of the huge cetacean it was necessary to wade in the water. This is a different whale from the one discovered yesterday. 

Report by Graeme Cresswell via UK Cetnet
Confirmation by Elaine & Richard Francis (Sea Watch Foundation Recorders for Norfolk)

In June 1992,  over 150  Heads of States signed the Convention on Biological Diversity at Rio de Janeiro. They did so to express a shared belief that action must be taken to halt the worldwide loss of animal and plant species and genetic resources.

World Oceans Day was first declared as 8th June at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Events will occur all around the world on and around this day.

Are you running an event this year?

If you are running a World Oceans Day event this year, please send me details so the information can be out on the World Oceans Day web page. Ideally you will construct your web page for your event, so all I will do is put in an Internet link.

If you do not have any web space, you can still design a web page and it can be uploaded on space provided on the Smart Groups  World Oceans Day eforum.
This forum is for discussion of all aspects of running a World Oceans day event and all marine life exhibitions, including exchange of ideas, resource sources, and mundane matters like Public Liability Insurance.
 

Adur World Oceans Day 2003
 

Event:	Adur World Oceans Day
Date:	31 May 2003 (Saturday)
Venue:	Coronation Green  Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex   (TQ 216 050)
Theme:	Education
Main Contact:	Andy Horton  Tel: 01273 465433  EMail: Glaucus@hotmail.com
Web Page URL:	Click on this text (*.pdf)

   Adur Exhibition

Adur will be one of the leaders in the United Kingdom when it presents an exhibition celebrating the official World Oceans Day. The event will take place on Saturday 31 May 2003 in Shoreham-by-Sea, on Coronation Green at the start of the Adur Festival. 

Each month, at least one special marine image will be published from images sent to the BMLSS. This can be of the seashore, undersea world or any aspect of the marine natural world, especially the underwater life, but not restricted to life beneath the waves. Topical inclusions may be included instead of the most meritorious, and images will be limited to the NE Atlantic Ocean and adjoining seas, marine and seashore species and land and seascapes.

To go back to the Dead Men's Fingers: if you notice a colony with a group of round brown spots on the side of one lobe, you are looking at the egg capsules of the Poached Egg Shell, Simnia patula, a curious snail that feeds on soft corals and sea fans, particularly Dead Men's Fingers.  It doesn't look like a poached egg to me; it is pointed at both ends, and like the cowries (which are close relatives) it has a slit aperture running the whole length of the shell through which the animal protrudes part of its body when it feeds or moves around.  The shell is white or yellow-white, so it does not show up against the white or yellow body of the Dead Men's Fingers; but its egg capsules - which are white when they are laid but later become dark brown - and the chewed patches where it has been feeding are clearly visible, and if you look, you may spot the adult Simnia. It is another western species, which you are likely to see around Devon and Cornwall or Pembrokeshire.
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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 150K in size.

Click on the album for more links (On-line link)

Shore Topography Portfolio
 

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.
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Plymouth
Spring Talks Series 2003
 

6 May 2003
"A fish out of water"
 Sugar, sharks and shuttles - a story of South Florida.
Celebrating human endeavour in the face of extreme environmental challenge.
by Rolf Williams, National Marine Aquarium
 

All talks are on Tuesdays and start at 7:00 p.m.
at the National Marine Aquarium, Coxside, Plymouth Devon.
Admission – Adults £2.50; Children and NMA members £1.50, inclusive of refreshments will be available.

Please reserve your place by calling the Aquarium on 01752 275204
 

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Unless otherwise stated, seminars are held on Fridays at 4:15 pm
in the SAMS Conference Room ** Followed by the Friday R&R **
 

For more details on the forthcoming talks, please contact Murray Roberts (mailto:mr-t@dml.ac.uk) or tel: 01631 559 000
 

A series of monthly talks on marine conservation topics
These talks are open to the public, admission is free.

6 March 2003
Walking the dog whelk - Simon Bray
3 April 2003
ROV deep sea fish watching - Ian Thomas
1 May 2003 
Fishy Tales - Peter Henderson

The Marine Life Talks are held on the first Thursday of the month at 7.30 pm, please arrive at 7.15 pm to be met in Reception. Southampton Oceanography Centre is reached via Dock Gate 4 (between Town Quay and Ocean Village). 

GREAT BRITISH MARINE ANIMALS	by Peter Naylor
published by Sound Diving Publications	ISBN  0 9522831 4 X
Available from

 
 

Published by the Conchological Society

The British Marine Life Study Society are responsible for producing the journal GLAUCUS, which is the first publication exploring the marine life of the seas surrounding the British Isles available to the general public. 

We also publish the quarterly SHOREWATCH Newsletter and 
the TORPEDO Electronic News Bulletin. 

The Glaucus 2002 CD-ROM was sent out to Premier BMLSS members in January 2003. 

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Change of EMail Address
 

Please note that the EMail address for messages to the British Marine Life Study Society has now changed

from bmlss@compuserve.com  to  Glaucus@hotmail.com

Messages to the first address will not receive any guarantee of a reply and from year 2003, the old EMail address is expected to fall into disuse. 

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Membership 2003

Current members will have their subscriptions waived for year 2003. An explanation was sent before Christmas. This is because of he computer breakdown and the failure of the full complement of paper publications. 
 

These pages are not designed for the default settings on the Page Set-ups of your browser. I recommend viewing in Microscope Internet Explorer 6 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 other web page editors, 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.

Some of the images may not display if you have changed your directory for downloaded files. The images may also not display properly if your settings on your EMail software do not allow you do this automatically. When received in Pegasus the format is changed slightly, but the bulletin is still readable.