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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20 December 2006
 

Three Violet Sea Snails, Janthina, were discovered on Marazion beach in south Cornwall.

18-20 December 2006

A scour of the strandline between Sennen and Gwenver on the west coast of Cornwall near Land's End discovered about fifty Violet Sea Snails, Janthina, seven dead Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus. and one Gulfweed Crab, Planes minutus, on a polystyrene float covered with Goose Barnacles, and two Skate egg cases.

17 December 2006
Twenty Violet Sea Snails, Janthina, were discovered along the beach at Woolacombe, North Devon. Most were about 10 mm in size, and some were still alive with their bubble rafts and "inked" when placed in a bucket.  They were washed in with tiny (max 12 mm) By-the-Wind Sailors, Velella velella, Buoy Barnacles, Dosima fascicularis, and a small 15 cm Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus. 

Chinese Mitten Crabs, Eriocheir sinensis, have been confirmed as by-catch from white fish fisheries in the Dee estuary, north-west Wales. 
The alien Mitten Crabs were probably accidentally introduced in ballast water and have become established in the Thames and adjoining rivers and in the Mersey estuary. They cause a huge amount of damage to the tidal and lower freshwater sections of rivers as they burrow into riverbanks causing them to collapse and silt up. Further pressure is also put on our wildlife as these crabs out compete native species. These crabs must spend the juvenile part of their life cycle in freshwater but must return to the sea to breed. 

13 December 2006
The gales of the preceding week also brought in the remains of a Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, on to at Widemouth Bay near Bude in north Cornwall.

12 & 13 December 2006
On the shore at Upton Towans (near Hayle), Cornwall, three Gulfweed Crabs, Planes minutus, (also known as the Floating Crab and Columbus Crab) were discovered living among Goose Barnacle bases on a polystyrene float; and on the second day at Perranporth six of these tiny crabs were found on a plastic barrel and one on a plastic float.

December 2006
Two deep water sea stars were recorded and collected by a ROV submersible, the first a beige species with short arms (like a cushion star) from a depth of around 250 metres off west Norway, and the second similar one from a depth of 600 metres in a Norwegian fjord at an earlier date. Neither of these species have been positively identified at time of writing.
Full Report with the Links to Images

The species are suggested as Peltaster placenta and Diplopteraster multipes.

12 December 2006
A large 20 kg Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola, was washed up dead on the north Kent coast. The height of this round fish was measured at 98 cm (including the fins). Sunfish are frequently found stranded on the western and southern coasts of Britain, but much less often on North Sea coasts.

11 December 2006
A surprising discovery of an Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola, from the Baltic coast of southern Sweden, means this fish must have navigated through the narrow parts of the Kattegat. It was a smallish specimen with a total length of 60 cm. 

1 - 9 December 2006
The prevailing winds of autumn and the recent gales have washed more unusual pelagic animals on to the shore (with the millions of By-the-wind Sailors, Velella velella, and multiple thousands of Goose Barnacles, Lepas anatifera) notably the small (size of a 10 pence piece) pelagic Columbus Crabs, Planes minutus, with five discovered on the Dorset coast at Southbourne (near Bournemouth) and a further 15 at Hengistbury Head, Dorset. The latter was discovered inside a large shipworm-riddled, Teredo, pole in cavities created by the tiny burrowing mollusc. The Columbus Crabs were found with the Goose Barnacles and there are clues that the buoys, wooden pallets, fish boxes etc. have been floating around the Atlantic Ocean for two years or more and are American in origin. The live crabs were placed in the aquarium at the Foundation Marine Centre at Kimmeridge.

Another probable Columbus Crab, Planes minutus, was discovered by crab potter Chris Marquis near Herm and Sark in the Channel Islands amongst a tray of Goose Barnacles. 

These crabs are rarely recorded pelagic life with British records only from the extreme west coasts, with the only Cornish records of the crab coming from the 19th century. 
Planes minutus is also called theGulf-weed Crab because the largest population of this abundant crab is believed to inhabit the open Atlantic Ocean area known as the Sargasso Sea.
Previous Report from the Channel Islands
Previous Report from Belgium

2 December 2006
My dog discovered a strange fish partially buried on the North Gare Sands, Hartlepool, (near the power station) part of the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve; the fish was one metre long, 30 cms wide and laterally very thin with a tapering tail. I have identified this fish as a Deal Fish, Trachipterus arcticus. 

November 2006
At least two specimens of the large pelagic swimming crab known as Henslow's Swimming Crab, Polybius henslowii, were brought in by a commercial fisherman from Poole Bay. This crab is an active predator of small fish and is usually found over deep water further south. The same weather conditions which have brought in the By-the-wind Sailors are likely to have blown this crab into the shallow bay. 

Velella on Eastern Green, between Penzance and Long Rock, Cornwall
Photographs by Paul Semmens

26 November 2006
Thousands of By-the-wind Sailors, Velella velella, were washed up on Welsh beaches, notably a narrow but continuous line of Velella velella washed up on the high tide mark at Borthwen, Rhoscolyn, Anglesey (southern end of Ynys Cybi - Holy Island), north Wales (Ian Wright); literally thousands stranded on a small bay at the Mumbles, Swansea (Jess Pitman); a swarm amounting to about two hundred were washed up on Porthllysgi beach off the coast of St. Davids in south west Wales (Eleri Davies) with hundreds, possibly thousands, stranded and dead on the pebbles on the nearby Newgale Beach (Helen Lee); thousands, if not millions, of By-the-wind Sailors were washed up on a beach at Criccieth (on the southern coast of the Lleyn Peninsula), Gwynedd, north Wales (Eilir Daniels); and an armada, a thick layer of jellyfish about a metre thick on the strandline in both directions at Cefn Sidan Beach at Pembrey, south west Wales (Bella).
BMLSS Velella
 

24 November 2006
Reports of By-the-wind Sailors, Velella velella, have been received from north Devon and Guernsey.

19 November 2006
A large number, probably several hundred, of By-the-wind Sailors, Velella velella, were washed up on beach at Newborough, on the southern cost of the Isle of Anglesey, north Wales.

18 November 2006
Thousands of By-the-wind Sailors, Velella velella, were reported being washed up on Saunton, Croyde and Woolacombe beaches in North Devon. All were noted as being of the same size, whereas in the past some had been tiny (finger nail size and smaller) plus larger colonies, all of the recent colonies were 50 - 75 mm across.

9 November 2006
A Tadpole Fish, Raniceps raninus, was caught from Bangor Pier, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.
Image (link)

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.

Photographs can now be directly uploaded to:

The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom launched a new full colour magazine, GLOBAL MARINE ENVIRONMENT in 2005, which will appeal to people who wish to read accurate, interesting and entertaining articles about the world's oceans and its inhabitants.
Much of the source material for this new magazine is the Journal of the Marine Biological Association (JMBA). Whereas the journal is full of excellent scientific papers, GLOBAL MARINE ENVIRONMENT takes some of the most interesting studies and, in full colour, writes a more understandable summary of the findings.

The first issue of Global Marine Environment may be purchased in hard copy for £1.75 (see below) or downloaded from the web at the following
address:

http://www.mba.ac.uk/PDF/mbaglobal%20news.pdf 

Coastal Plankton 
Photo Guide for European Seas

by Otto Larink & Wilfried Westheide

reviewed by Wim van Egmond
 

ISBN  0-9522831-5-8 Available from:

NEW