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
 

19 July 2009
Two-banded Sea Bream, Diplodus vulgaris, have again been identified from the shallow seas of Belle Greve Bay, on the east coast of Guernsey, Channel Islands. This silvery sea-bream has a distinctive black band on its caudal peduncle (preceding its tail fin). 

Diplodus vulgaris 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.

9 July 2009
Commercial crab and lobster fisherman Clive Brown brought me a live Common Octopus, Octopus vulgaris, which he landed in one of his pots to the north-west of Les Hanois Lighthouse , south-west of Guernsey, Channel Islands, at 10:00 am. This octopus was missing one arm. The injury had healed.

All reports of Octopus vulgaris in Channel Island waters are of interest because of their virtual disappearance after the cold winter of 1962/ 1963. They began to re-appear in small numbers several years ago and then disappeared again. Clive Brown reports one being caught in the same location as his capture by another fisherman five years ago. They may move in from deeper water to the west of Guernsey.
Octopus vulgaris has two rows of suckers per arm and grows to a much larger size than Eledone cirrhosa, which has one row of suckers per arm.
 

Previous Report
BMLSS Octopuses

2 July 2009
A newly born (neonate) Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus, was caught and released by a young angler off the Great Bank off the east coast of Guernsey, Channel Islands. Andy Simon (father of the angler) wrote that the neonate shark weighed about 7 kg (15 lb) and was about a metre long. It was caught at 4.30 pm out from Fermain Bay. 

Porbeagle Sharks usually produce two young per uterus (four in total per litter) after a long gestation. The embryos are oophagous. The mother only fertilises two eggs in each uterus but she produces copious amounts of eggs during gestation, which the developing embryos eat. The embryos have sharp teeth to tear the skin of the eggs apart. The developing embryos have a large abdominal yolk sac, which they absorb during development. During the colder months Guernsey fishermen catch Porbeagle Sharks occasionally. The captured adult females usually carry embryos.  It appears that Channel Island waters are a nursery ground for Porbeagle Sharks as there is evidence that Porbeagle Sharks give birth there.

Embryos of Porbeagle Shark (feature and photograph)
 

BMLSS Sharks : Porbeagle
BMLSS Shark & Ray News
BMLSS Porbeagle -1
BMLSS Porbeagle -2
Large Porbeagle Sharks

IUCN Red List Endangered Species: Porbeagle Shark
 

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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/

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

Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum Link
 
 

Porbeagle Sharks usually produce two young per uterus (four in total per litter) after a long gestation. The embryos are oophagous. The mother only fertilises two eggs in each uterus but she produces copious amounts of eggs during gestation, which the developing embryos eat. The embryos have sharp teeth to tear the skin of the eggs apart. The developing embryos have a large abdominal yolk sac, which they absorb during development. During the colder months Guernsey fishermen catch Porbeagle Sharks occasionally. The captured adult females usually carry embryos.  It appears that Channel Island waters are a nursery ground for Porbeagle Sharks as there is evidence that Porbeagle Sharks give birth there.
 
 

The Porbeagle Shark that produced these embryos was caught in a monofilament gill net by Richard Seager near a small rocky reef north-west of Guernsey in January 2002. 

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:

Two new interesting publications were received this month:
 

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