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
 

16 June 2009
 

A rod caught Blunt-nosed Six-gilled Shark, Hexanchus griseus, was caught about three miles off Loop Head and landed on board the Clare Dragoon out of Carrigaholt, County Clare, south-west Ireland. The fish which weighed in at 480 kg, (1056 lb), beats the existing European angling record which stands at 466 kg and was landed in the Azores. 

The Six-gilled Shark is an active shark found in seas of  between 200 to 1000 metres deep. These depths occur only off the Continental Shelf to the south and west of the British Isles. Between 1960 and 1984, at least 31 specimens have been recorded off west Scotland, south-west Ireland, the Faeroe Bank, and west of Ireland down to 964 metres. The majority of reports are from the main fishing areas along the shallower slope on both sides of the Rockall Trough, which is the 1000 metre deep trench that runs between the Rockall Bank and the Irish coast. This very deep trough extends from Iceland down to the Bay of Biscay. 

BMLSS Six-gill Sharks Page 1
BMLSS Six-gill Sharks Page 2
BMLSS Shark News

14 June 2009

A large Tope, Galeorhinus galeus, with a measured length of 175 cm was captured on rod and line from his own boat while fishing in Wigtown Bay, south west Scotland by Russell Roberts (in the photograph). The weight of this shark is estimated at 36 kg. 

BMLSS Tope Page 1
BMLSS Tope Page 2
UK Shark Tagging Programme
BMLSS Sharks & Rays
Large Tope from Sussex 1997

12 June 2009
A most unusual capture of a 120 cm long (Mediterranean) Moray Eel, Muraena helena, weighing about 11 kg, was caught by West Penwith fishermen on their "Trevessa"  beam trawler just 60 miles off Newlyn Harbour, Cornwall. This is the first one this century and only ten are on record of this temperate-tropical fish being caught in UK seas, the previous ones being caught in the 1990s. They are a North East Atlantic fish being found from Senegal to the English Channel (and also in the Mediterranean). 

Mail Online Report & Photograph
Previous Report 2004 from Ireland
Earlier March 1999 Report from Newlyn Fish Market
Earlier Report from Herm, Channel Islands 1996

6 June 2009
A large Stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca, was caught in an angling competition by Gordon Pressey off the western Isle of Wight and the imperial weight was 49 lb 5 oz (22.4 kg). 

12 May 2009
A large native European Oyster, Ostrea edulis, weighing 1.36 kg,  width 180 mm, length 170 mm and depth 70 mm  was spotted on Plymouth fish market in a box of mixed fish bought by merchant, Peter Randall of Mevagissey, and is now in the Mevagissey Aquarium.

2007 Previous Report of a large Oyster
BMLSS Oyster & Slipper Limpet
BMLSS Molluscs
 

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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
 
 

BMLSS Small Aquarium Display	Len Nevell with the  Lobsters and Crabs

Friend's of Shoreham Beach  Interactive Children's Activities	Steve Savage (Sea Watch Foundation) Dolphin Rescue Demonstration

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.

If you have any suitable photographs please send them in for the next and subsequent issues.

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