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
 

15 February 2009
Hundreds of Heart Urchins, Echinocardium cordatum, were washed in on the wide sandy beach at St Michel en Grève, (departement of Cotes d' Armor), a bay in northern Brittany. The tide appears to go out by as much as half a mile and the urchins were around the lowest tide mark (Chart Datum). 

13 February 2009
Three Curled Octopus, Eledone cirrhosa, were caught by commercial fisherman Shane Petit from on one of the Casquet banks to the west of Alderney in the Channel Islands. Eledone cirrhosa has only one row of suckers along each arm. This octopus is scarce in the Channel Islands but a common species in the seas north of the English Channel. 

11 February 2009 
Jamie Le Tissier found a white-shelled Ormer, Haliotis tuberculata, at ELWS on the rocky promontory off Cobo, on the west coast of Guernsey. 

9 February 2009
Guernsey commercial fisherman Steve Fallaize landed a Bogue, Boops boops, north of L'Ancresse off the north coast of Guernsey. It weighed 566 grams.

Bogue belong to the family Sparidae (Sea Breams). They are common Mediterranean fish, but uncommon in Guernsey waters where a few are caught every year.  All the Guernsey records I have for this fish come from the L'Ancresse area (north of Guernsey).  To give a sense of this fish's rarity Steve Fallaize has never seen this fish before and he has been fishing commercially in Guernsey waters since 1986. The scientific names is pronounced "Beau - ops" and not "boops".

1 February 2009
An unusual discovery washed up on the shore at Hauxley near Amble in Northumberland on the north-east coast of England was the decaying remains of an Oarfish (or Ribbon Fish), Regalecus glesne. This is a deep water species and the longest fish found in the oceans reaching a length of 11 metres. The last known British record was from Skinningrove, Cleveland on the north-east coast in 2003. 

29 January 2009
Commercial fisherman Steve Fallaize caught a Two-banded Sea Bream, Diplodus vulgaris, in a gill net set over night one mile off L'Ancresse off the north coast of Guernsey. It weighed 1011 grams. 

Sealord Photography

This fish is a new record for the British Isles.  It is principally a Mediterranean species and is also found on the Atlantic Seaboard of continental Europe and North Africa including Brittany where it is rare.

21 January 2009 This Ray's Bream, Brama brama, was found on Broughty Ferry Beach, Dundee, east Scotland.    Report and Photograph by Steph Gauld

20 January 2009
I found what I believe to be a Ray's Bream, Brama brama, on the beach at Montrose, Tayside, Scotland, just north of the South Esk estuary at 9.10 pm (about one hour before high tide). Although the fish was dead it looked very fresh, with no signs of decomposition or bird damage. Measured against my walking boots I would estimate its length to be approximately 55 cm.

Ray's Bream, Brama brama, continue their strandings on the east coast of England and Scotland.  Most of them are found dead on the beach, intact or scavenged by gulls, whilst occasionally they are discovered alive flapping in the shallow water surf. 
More Reports

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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
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Images can be uploaded to flickr.
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Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum Link
 
 

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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.
 
 

Widewater Lagoon
A brackish water lagoon in Lancing, Sussex
Photograph by Andy Horton
 

On 2 February 2009 snow fell all over Britain including the south coast

Widewater Lagoon 2008

Widewater is a landlocked brackish lagoon approximately 1066 metres long and 90 metres at its widest point when the lagoon is in flood. It was created by Man from the original Adur estuary after been landlocked by longshore drift and violent storms. The waters are replenished by the sea, which filters up through the basin of the lagoon on very high tides, and also by rain water and a new pipeline.

Adur Coastal 2009

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:
 
 

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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