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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

17 July 2005
A yacht out of Lyme Regis, Dorset, took avoiding action to narrowly miss a Sunfish. 

11 July 2005
A Flying Fish was caught off the south Devon coast by the Brixham based beam trawler, MFV. Magdalena and landed on the fish market.
The flying fish is probably Cheilopogon heterurus, the Atlantic Flying Fish, but it needs to be checked. Stephen Rodgers, the fishmonger who bought it on Brixham Fish market, is preserving it and will be passing it on to me to examine, and then give to collections in the Natural History Museum in London.  While more than twenty flying fish have been recorded in British waters, principally in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries, we have never had definite proof of which of the three or four possible species they were. However the half dozen caught in Denmark and Norway have all been Cheilopogon heterurus. Old records often say those in Britain were Exocoetus volitans but that is the tropical flying fish which is very unlikely here. The photograph of this fish shows that this fish was definitely not this species.  A photograph of this fish by Richard Austin was in the 15 July Western Morning News.
I have had two or three probable sightings of flying fish in the last seven years from yachtsmen in mid-Channel who thought they saw one but could not be a 100% certain. 

10 July 2005
A Black Sea Bream, Spondyliosoma cantharus, was caught on rod and line from a boat in St. Andrew's Bay, Scotland. This is a northerly capture location for fish that breeds in the English Channel and further south. 

8 July 2005
A Salcombe fisherman, Graham Foale, observed a Minke Whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, about four miles south of Prawle Point, south Devon.  It swam around his boat, Crustacean SE 35, for about five minutes whilst they were hauling pots around midday. It came within 15 metres and then slowly swam off to the east.  The head could not be seen but the white markings on the pectoral fins were evident.  He had seen one in the same area about ten years before.

28 June - July 2005
An algal bloom of the planktonic dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi has developed in the Atlantic Ocean and been blown inshore and around the coasts and into the loughs of north-west Ireland. This microscopic organism is present in such huge numbers that underwater the sea actually looks green and the visibility is reduced to a few metres. It releases toxic substances called gymnocins into the sea and compounded by the deoxygenation caused by the dying plankton, the overall result has been a mass mortality of the sessile and slow moving organisms like starfish, sea urchins, benthic (bottom-dwelling) animals, scallops and other molluscs, worms and even sea anemones. In the enclosed loughs and in very shallow water, the effects are even worse, with flatfish and rock pool fish succumbing the effect of the toxins and anoxic conditions. Dead creatures litter the sea bed providing food for any crabs that have survived. 
 

3 July 2005
I dived Killary Harbour (a long enclosed sea lough) with Dr Joanne Porter from Aberystwyth University, only to find that all the brittlestars in what was an extensive bed; large molluscs including whelks and scallops; all starfish, all fish (everything from Blennies, Gobies, Butterfish, flatfish etc) and many of the infaunal species - (worms, priapulids, sea cucumbers), were either dead and rotting, or gaping and unresponsive. The only animals that seemed to be hanging on were the Common Hermit Crabs, Pagurus bernhardus, and the Organ-pipe Worm, Serpula vermicularis, which were still extending their tentacles from their calcareous tubes but retracting them quickly when we approached. On another dive in the upper reaches of Kilkieren Bay a 'population' of the Fireworks Anemone Pachycerianthus multiplicatus, were notably moribund and would not retract their tentacles nor retreat into their tubes when disturbed.

4 July 2005
At least a dozen Minke Whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, were seen from the CRRU research vessel in the outer southern Moray Firth (NE Scotland).  At one location, we had three Minke Whales around the boat at the same time (two adults and a young calf), and they were lunge feeding, to the left and to the right of us, as the leviathans struck at the numerous bait balls of sand eels being concentrated at the surface by corralling mackerel from below and hoards of feeding birds from above!

28 June 2005
After a noticeable absence of Minke Whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, in the outer southern Moray Firth (NE Scotland) in 2004, we are pleased to report that the animals have returned to their usual feeding haunts once again in 2005. At least two were definitely observed, and there were certainly more in poor weather conditions. 

A group of a dozen Sperm Whales, Physeter catodon, including a calf, were spotted between Bressay and Noss in the Shetland Isles (island off the east mainland). From a vantage point overlooking Noss Sound, we were rewarded by the sight of a group of Sperm Whales gently drifting eastwards at a distance of about two miles. Visibility was fairly good and we could determine the distinctive outline and classic blow through the scope, though they were a long way out when viewed through binoculars. Despite the variety of whales and dolphins around the Shetland Isles, Sperm Whales are unusual in the relatively shallow water for these huge sea mammals. A group is very rare and the calf may be the first record for the Shetlands. Images (Shetland Sea Mammal Group)

BMLSS Cetacea (Whales & Dolphins)
BMLSS Cetacean News Index 2005

27-29 June 2005
A group of seven Leatherback Turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, were spotted around the Isles of Scilly , south-west of Cornwall. 

26 June 2005
A Small-scaled Scorpionfish, Scorpaena porcus, was discovered in a fishing catch caught off Cornwall and brought into Plymouth. This venomous fish usually lives in the Mediterranean. This appears to be only the second UK record of the rarer of the two venomous Scorpaena from European warmer seas. 
Previous Report in 1998

A shark landed at Plymouth dockside was a 118 cm (TL) female Bluntnosed Six-gilled Shark, Hexanchus griseus, caught on longline due west of Cornwall  (50°N 8°W). This is a deep water predatory shark species. 

    
More Information on Six-Gilled Sharks (by Len Nevell)
Fishbase Entry
BMLSS Sharks
BMLSS Shark News
 

13 June 2005
At Dunnet Head (the most northerly part of mainland Scotland) whilst watching the seabirds near the lighthouse we saw at least three Minke Whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, feeding close in amongst the birds.

2 June 2005
A Striped Dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, swam on to the beach at Bembridge on the lsle of Wight. Although the dolphin did not show any signs of injury attempts to rescue it were in vain. 
Full Report (BDMLR)
BMLSS Cetacea
 

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

Photographers submitting pictures should indicate if they wish them to be considered for inclusion as confirming permission takes work and time and can delay publication of the news bulletins. 

Shore Topography Portfolio
 

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

Alwyne was a highly acclaimed ichthyologist who worked, until his retirement, at the Natural History Museum in London where he has special responsibility for European Fishes, but even then his interest and reputation was such that he continued on an informal basis for many more years. 

He was recognised as the definitive authority on fish species and was the author of many comprehensive books and his classic book “Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe” became a bible for all those who have an interest in fish species within Northern Europe and beyond. 
 

We are also sad to learn of the death in June of the renowned Cornish playwright and author Nick Darke, who was known throughout the county and beyond for plays such as The King of Prussia, The Dead Monkey and
Ting Tang Mine.

He was a strandline guru who submitted marine life reports via the Cornish Mailing List (Yahoo Group).