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
 

9 December 2009
The very first positive record of a Greater Amberjack, Seriola dumerili, for the seas around the island of Guernsey was caught by commercial fisherman Steve Fallaize off Rousse, off the north-west coast of the Channel Island. It weighed 585 grams.

Only twelve of this fish have ever been recorded caught around the British Isles dating from the first one caught off Salcombe in Devon in 1951. It can be mistaken for the rarely caught Guinean Amberjack, Seriola carpenteri. (This species was only described in 1971.) The differences between the Greater Amberjack and the Guinean Amberjack are minor. They differ in gill raker count and ratio of second dorsal fin lobe height to fork length ratio. The Almaco Jack, Seriola rivoliana, is another scarce Amberjack that is caught in seas around the British Isles. 

Full Report
BMLSS Amberjacks
Fishbase: Carangidae

An exceptional mass stranding of millions (a galaxy) of Common Starfish, Asterias rubens, stretched in a broad band for over a quarter of a mile on Holkham Beach on the north coast of Norfolk. 

Their usual residence would be feeding on the mussel beds offshore. From a previous occurrence underneath the chalk cliffs east of Brighton Marina, Sussex, it is my surmise that the mass migration occurs because the Common Starfish have exceeded their food supply offshore. Perhaps, this occurs because of commercial dredging of the mussels. In this case the stranding could have been exacerbated by north-easterly gales. 

5 December 2009

A Mantis Shrimp, Rissoides desmaresti, was found in the stomach of a Pouting caught two miles east of the Isle of Wight. The Mantis Shrimp was a little over just over 10 cm in length. 

3 December 2009
A 14 metre long whale was washed dead up on the muddy Hest Bank near Priest Skeer on the Lancashire coast. It was thought to be a Fin Whale, Balaenoptera physalis. There was no obvious damage to the carcass which was being moved down the coast by the tides from one dangerous bank to another. 

4 November 2009 - 9 December 2009

Frequent reports of Ray's Bream, Brama brama, being washed ashore on North Sea were received. These strandings occurred in 2008 and earlier years.
List of 2009 Reports

c. 17 November 2009
A Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was beached dead near Cancale (Brittany, France) south of Jersey.

12 November 2009
The Marine and Coastal Access Bill received Royal Assent

The Act will create a new marine planning system designed to bring together the conservation, social and economic needs of our seas. A network of Marine Conservation Zones will be created that will protect rare and threatened species and habitats. Four regional projects have started working with local groups and businesses to identify which areas will be designated as Marine Conservation Zones.

DEFRA Press Release
DEFRA: Legislation Page
DEFRA: Key Areas
 
 

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FORUM NEWS

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/

However, in November 2009, all these messages were deleted without warning. Sorry. This was out of my control. 

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

Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum Link
 
 

The Dahlia Anemone is the largest of the common sea anemones found around the British Isles inhabiting the shallow seas all around the coast and occasionally found on rocky shores during the colder months of the year. Despite its large size and spectacular colours it is often overlooked between the tides, its tentacles covered in gravel. It is an Arctic species intolerant of sea temperatures in excess of 22°C. 

Food:
Macrophagous
Diet includes crab, mussels. 

The diet of the Dahlia Anemone is known to include large crabs and mussels in their shells. The mussels are smashed off the rocks by the waves and fall down into rock gullies where these anemones may congregate. Its method of feeding on crabs is unclear. I am still unsure whether the crabs blunder into the tentacles and get swallowed up dead or alive. Aquarium study sheds no further light on the capture. One spider crab species the Short-legged Spider Crab, Eurynome aspera,was observed to live amongst the blunt tentacles of this sea anemone for over a year before being swallowed up over night.

Reproduction
Unknown

Pedn Vounder Beach below, with the Treryn Dinas headland beyond (featuring the famous Logan Rock). At low tide a sand bar is exposed off the beach. At high tide there is no beach. The tiny cliff top village of Treen in St. Levan with the Logan Rock Inn is at the top of the cliffs on the coastal footpath. 

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)

Kimmeridge Tidings (Autumn 2009)
http://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/c2/uploads/tidingsautumn09web.pdf

Up to date with all the latest happenings at our Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve in Kimmeridge.
 

VIVARIUM
by Peter Stiles
Publisher: Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon

Philip Henry Gosse was a popular naturalist who moved to Victorian Ilfracombe and wrote his natural science book ‘A Naturalist’s Rambles on the Devonshire Coast’. He later designed the first public aquarium, which opened in London. His activities also attracted other naturalists, including Charles Darwin and novelist George Eliot.

This book celebrates the link between Philip Henry Gosse and his rockpool adventures in Devon and contains lots of information about the life of this self-taught Victorian scientist and writer.

in conjunction with an Exhibition that finished on 25 April 2009.
 

Marine Fisheries Science Yearbook  2008/2009

Publisher:  defra

href="http://archive.defra.gov.uk/search/results.htm?cx=014361324438485032053%3Aljunwq2pe_y&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=Marine+Fisheries+Science+">To obtain a copy from the defra web site, click on this text
 
 
 

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.
 

BMLSS General Guides
BMLSS Advanced Guides