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 January 2008
 

A dead Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, was discovered by Craig Vernoit on Brighton Beach just to the east of Brighton Marina amongst tonnes of timber from the Greek-registered Ice Prince. 
BMLSS Seahorses
 
 

Timber from the Greek-registered Ice Prince, which sank about 26 miles (42 km) off Dorset after a storm on 15 January 2008, began getting washed up on Worthing Beach in the evening of 18 January 2008 and and tonnes of pine planks littered the Sussex beaches from 20 January 2008. The usual debris was on the strandline including the eggcase of an Undulate Ray, Raja undulata. It measured 67 mm long and 48 mm wide. A Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, was washed up dead west of Brighton Marina. 
BMLSS Whales & Dolphins (by Steve Savage)
Adur Coastal 2008
BMLSS Eggcases
Adur Coastal 2008

5 & 14 January 2008
We have a report from Mr Meale who spotted what appears to be a Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola, found on Eccles Beach, Norfolk on 5 January 2008. A further report in the EDP published on Monday 14 January 2008 shows a picture of a Sunfish found on Sea Palling Beach, Norfolk.

3 January 2008
A rare Kemp's Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, was washed up at Porth Ceiriad on the Llyn peninsula, north-west Wales. 
Kemp's Ridley Turtles are listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union, with only 35 records of the Kemp's Ridley species in UK and Irish waters. According to the Marine Conservation Society the latest estimates suggest that only a few thousand adult females still nest on only one stretch of beach on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 

A Grey Seal, Halichoerus grypus, was washed up dead on the shore at Sheringham in Norfolk with a large 35 cm wound reminiscent of a predator attack. The jury is out on the cause of the wound which could be as a result of fishing activity. 

 Discussion on the Marine Wildlife of the NE Atlantic Yahoo Group
Large Shark 1968

The previous week in Kent we had a dead seal turn up with large wounds on it. They were circular and about 50 mm in diameter.

1 January 2008
Another dead juvenile Loggerhead Turtle, Caretta caretta,  was recovered by staff from the Islay and Jura Seal Sanctuary after it washed up near Ardbeg, on the island of Islay,  the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides, western Scotland. 

29 December 2007
A juvenile Loggerhead Turtle, Caretta caretta, was discovered washed up dead at Ardnave on the island of Islay, the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides, western Scotland. 

A Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is spotted in St. Loy's Cove, south Cornwall, unusual so late in the year. 

14 December 2007
Ray Fallaize caught a record Couch's Sea-Bream, Pagrus pagrus, on rod and line from a boat in Guernsey waters on 28 April 2007. His capture has been accepted by the British Record Angling Committee. It weighed 6 lb  9 oz  7 drams (3 kg). 
Link to the Full Report & Photograph

8 December 2007
A Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, was observed and photographed off Mumbles in south Wales. It came within 30 metres of the pier at Nab Rock. 

Humpback Whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, are rare in British seas, but have been observed more frequently in recent years. They can be identified by their large white pectoral fins. From a distance they resemble Fin Whales, but Humpbacks raise their tails before diving.
Whales & Dolphins in British Seas (by Steve Savage)
UK Cetnet (Yahoo Group)

24 November 2007
We saw what we initiallly thought was a Striped Blenny, Parablennius rouxi, off Plymouth. We dived at 50° 17.363N and 004°  00.187W out of Fort Bovisand. It was a flat sandy bottom with low (1 metre) rocky ridges covered in mixed animal turf at between 22 metres and 24 metres in depth. There were loads of sponge species and quite a few pink seafans and Imperial Anemones, Aureliania heterocer. 
This blenny is a Mediterranean species and this would be the first record off the British coast. 
The ID is not clear. It could be the Variegated Blenny Parablennius pilicornis. The head tentacles and subsequent observations make this other southern species more likely. 

 UK Diving » Plymouth » Diving from Bovisand

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Mailing Groups

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean 
Yahoo Group
New Group: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Glaucus

With the closure of Smart Groups at the end of November 2006 most of the 7500+ messages have been filed at:

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Jiglu
http://www.Jiglu.com/spaces/glaucus/

Images can be uploaded to flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/glaucus/

NEW
Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum 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.

3 November 2007
The first swarms of thousands of the small (25 mm cap diameter) Mauve Stingers, Pelagia noctiluca, appeared off the surfing coast at at Hornish Point, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. 

This was not the first time that swarms of these jellyfish had damaged the salmon fisheries. In August 2002 there was a massive fish loss on the east coast of Lewis by small jellyfish clogging the salmon gills. There were also reports off Ireland in 1998. 
Full 2007 News Report

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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 250K 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. 
 

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

NEW BOOKS:
 
 

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

Whales & Dolphins 
of Great Britain
by Dylan Walker and Alex Wilson
CETACEA Publishing 2007
£11.95 
ISBN-10: 0-9556144-0-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-9556144-0-8
 

If you would like to see whales and dolphins in British waters, Whales and Dolphins of Great Britain is the book for you! A comprehensive and easy-to-use field guide to all of the regularly seen species, it also shows you how, where, and when to go and see these spectacular marine mammals, with 38 boat operators and 16 outstanding land-based viewpoints listed. The text is packed with information on how to book a trip; including the species that are likely to be seen, how to get there, and what photographic opportunities are available. If you love whales and dolphins and enjoy seeing the British countryside, this book is a must – you never know when you might need it! 

Whales and Dolphins of Great Britain is the first in a series of regional whale and dolphin watching guides being published by Cetacea Publishing. 

CETACEA Publishing, Nook Farmhouse, Ashby Road, Shepshed, Loughborough, LE12 9BS. Telephone: 0845 388 3053. Fax: 0845 108 6386. 
E-Mail: info@cetaceapublishing.com. Website designed by de Wilson-Wildman LLP 

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

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.

ISBN:  0-00-220031-7

Amazon Web Site
 

BMLSS General Guides
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