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
 

18 December 2008
My trawler caught a Ray's Bream, Brama brama, at mouth of the River Thames. It measured 50 cm (20 in) long and weighed 1.65 kg. This fish was a new species for the River Thames.

Date	Location	Notes	Discoverer
14 December 2008	Hartlepool on North Gare Sands at  NZ 541 271	Approx. 0.5m based on my size 9 feet!  a second dead Rays Bream was found a week on Sunday 7 December 2008 at Seaton Sands NZ 536 287; this was one slightly smaller in the same circumstances.	Steve Wilkinson
12 December 2008	Mundesley Beach, Norfolk	Two about three weeks ago and then today three of around 3 lb	Crispian Emberson Heritage Destination Consulting Ltd.
6-7 December 2008	17 washed up on the coast of Texel (the largest and most southerly of the islands in the Wadden Sea), Netherlands	From Noordhollands Dagblad (only in the Dutch language)	Richard Fordham
7 December 2008	Heacham 100 meters south  of our beach house (Kala Juga, 1b North Beach)		Richard Brown
Early December 2008	Aldbrough Beach, East Yorkshire		Report by Doug Herdson
6 December 2008	Aberdeen Beach, east Scotland	In vicinity of large top tide debris of kelp seaweed, sea urchins, clams and  razor fish, all scavenged by birds	Andrew Jones
4 December 2008	Ryhope Beach, Sunderland		Ian Colling
30 November 2008	North of Seahouses (Northumberland)		John Hanvey (Station mechanic)  Seahouses Lifeboat Station
30 November 2008 1 December 2008	Sea Palling	Caught in a beach trammel net set behind the reefs at Sea Palling 1.7 kg I saw a similar sized fish  washed up on the shore. The gulls had started to eat it!	Fred Page
30 November 2008	Salthouse, Norfolk	I caught it with my hands in the surf!	Dr Matt Lawes
29 November 2008	At the mouth of Cockle Burn, Ruddons Point, Largo Bay, Fife, Scotland		Peter Nimmo
22 November 2008	Salthouse, Norfolk	a) Very long caudal fin  b) slightly protruding lower jaw  c) row of very sharp teeth  We returned the fish to the water and it appeared to swim away.	Simon & Michelle Hollidge
Late November 2008	Between Whitby and Sandsend		Ian Smith
15 November 2008	Burnham Overy Staithe, Holkham side of Scoult Head Island	The fish was in very good condition and was approx. 50 cm long	Karen Crate

The Ray's Bream, Brama brama, is a most interesting fish. It is an oceanic Lusitanian species (found in mid water off the Atlantic coast of Spain, Portugal and NW Africa) that turns up occasionally in British waters; but it is not a climate change species, it has done so for many years. The odd one is found around the south and southwest coasts, but when they have irruption years (e.g. 1967-68) they appear to sweep up and around the west of Ireland and into the North Sea, appearing in some numbers. Last year was such a year, with around eight tonnes of them being caught off the west coast of Ireland in the late summer, fish turning up around Aberdeen in September and being found all the way down to Lowestoft by December. There do not seem to be so many this year, but quite a few both here and in the Netherlands. I am trying to keep records of these and hope to analyse their patterns over the last fifty years."

Comment by Doug Herdson
Marine Fish Information Services
94 Dunstone View
Plymstock
Plymouth. PL9 8QW
Email: Douglas.Herdson@btinternet.com
Telephone: +44 (0)1752 405155
Mobile: 07910 078599

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NEW BOOKS:
 
 

Sharks in British Seas Richard Peirce 138 pages, colour illustrations, line drawings, colour & b/w photos. Lots of newspaper reports. Publisher:  Shark Cornwall Softcover | 2008 | £9.99 ISBN: 978-0-955869402

Seashore by Lucy Beckett-Bowman Consultant: Andy Horton Usborne Publishing   £3.99 Usborne Beginners Series Level One (very young children) ISBN 978-0-7460-8864-7 BMLSS Notes for a Primary School Teacher

Whales & Dolphins 
of the European Atlantic
The Bay of Biscay, English Channel, Celtic Sea and coastal SW Ireland
by Dylan Walker and Graeme Cresswell
with the illustrations by Robert Still
WILDGuides  2008
£ 12.00 (includes standard UK P&P)
ISBN:  978-1-903657-31-7

This is the second fully revised and updated edition of this comprehensive guide to the identification of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) in the European Atlantic. Until very recently, most researchers and whale-watchers were unaware of the great variety of cetaceans that can be seen so close to the shores of western Europe. Indeed, it is only during the last decade, when detailed cetacean surveys have been carried out in earnest, that we have discovered how important this area is for cetacean biodiversity.

This field guide describes all of the 31 species of whale, dolphin and porpoise that have occurred in the European Atlantic. 
 

BMLSS Cetacean Book Reviews
 

The Gulf Stream
by Bruno Voituriez 
Publisher:  UNESCO 
ISBN:  92-3-103995-4 
222 pages, figures, glossary, bibliography

The Gulf Stream
Amid contemporary scenarios of potential climatic catastrophes and global warming that might be imagined to bring a new ice age, the powerful image of the Gulf Stream rising from the Florida Straits and flowing to the north Atlantic inevitably provokes questions about its ecological significance and whether it might ever stop.
 

Coastal Plankton
Photo Guide for European Seas

by Otto Larink & Wilfried Westheide
reviewed by Wim van Egmond
 
 

Seashore  (Collins New Naturalist) (Paperback) by Peter Hayward Collins 2004 ISBN:  0-00-220031-7 Amazon Web Site

Paperback. Pp 288. Colour & b/w photographs, illustrations, charts, maps and bibliography. Fine copy. "New Naturalist" Seashore is a comprehensive, authoritative account of the natural history of the seashore.
 

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