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
 

25 January 2010
A ten metre long Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, was discovered after becoming stranded on rocks at Beadnell Bay on the Northumberland Coast, north-east England. The whale had been dead for several days.

The Sperm Whale is the largest species of toothed whale, reaching 18 metres (59 ft) and weighing 57 tonnes (male). This whale is capable of diving to a depth of more than 1000 metres and can remain submerged for over an hour. A fatty substance in the blood prevents dangerous nitrogen bubbles forming in their blood on deep dives, so they are able to descend to great depths, and return to the surface without decompression.

The last BMLSS recorded stranding of a deep water Sperm Whale on the English North Sea coast occurred when two were stranded in separate incidents on North Sea coasts in February 2006.
Previous Scottish Stranding 2009
BMLSS Cetaceans

January 2010
Ray's Bream, Brama brama, continue to be washed up on the North Sea coasts of Northumberland and on eastern Scottish shores. 

At least fifty Ray's Bream were discovered by the beach cleaning staff between  Roker and Seaburn, at Sunderland, Wearside, north-east England. 

17 - 19 January 2010
After some easterly swells a dead Short-snouted Seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, and a Sea Mouse, Aphrodite aculeata, (a worm), were discovered on a beach near Dawlish, south Devon. 
 

BMLSS Seahorses
BMLSS Sea Mouse

14- 18 & 19 January 2010
After the heavy seas had dropped on the shore at Blyth, Northumberland, the gulls fed in a frenzy on a large shoal of Sand-eels, Ammodytes. On the subsequent two days I observed a few Ray's Bream, Brama brama, in the same shallows and I speculated that these fish could have been feeding on the Sand-eels seen earlier. 

18 January 2010
 

Ian Wrigley discovered this peculiar object on the sandbank of Whitesands in Old Town Bay at low tide, at St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly. This large jelly-like mass was solid and heavy. The green translucent organism was quite slimy, and at 30 cm across it was estimated to weight over 1 kg. The most distinctive feature of this mystery object was the presence of many small whitish nodules within (5 to 10 mm), visible through the jelly, seemingly hard but in actual fact soft and they  would disintegrate with little pressure from the fingers. A few darker feathery patches were visible inside.

At this time of year, the Football Sea Squirt (yes, it can be the size of a football) Diazona violacea has lost its zooids and is an off-white, slightly translucent smooth blob with structures (the new zooids) visible through the test. 

13 January 2010
A mass stranding of crabs occurred on the Isle of Thanet coast, Kent; the crabs have been reported on beaches at Westbrook, Cliftonville and Kingsgate, while smaller numbers have been washed up between Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Most of the crabs were the Velvet Swimming Crab, Necora puber, which inhabits the shallow seas beneath the intertidal zone, over rocky substrates. 

3 January 2010
Nineteen Ray's Bream, Brama brama, were discovered on the beach at Redcar. 

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

List of 2009 Reports
More Reports of Ray's Bream on flickr
 

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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
 
 

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