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

This Blackfish usually inhabits water of over 100 metres deep, and the North Sea is shallower. It is unusual, but not unknown, for Blackfish to be caught in the North Sea. Main sightings in catches are from off west Scotland and off Ireland in deeper waters. The facebook page includes a few other reports. It is classified in the family Centrolophidae.Nine specimens have been caught by fishermen from 1987-1996 and a few others since then.  Since the development of more deep sea fishing off Scotland they have become more numerous in catches.
The Cornish Blackfish, Schedophilus medusophagus, is very similar in appearance to the Common Blackfish. The last record for this latter fish is one caught off Ireland in August 1996 and brought into Newlyn, Cornwall(from Doug Herdson). 
Earlier Report 1998

22 October 2013 Another fishbox found at Marazion, south Cornwall, had a liberal covering of the live stalked barnacle Lepas pectinata. I find quite a lot of these and they're a very common find at the right time of the year, and can be found on many types of objects washed ashore, from macroalgae, feathers, bottles, margarine containers and workman's helmets. The species is quite variable in its sculpturing and is noted to be white or bluish. Indeed a few of the specimens on the fishbox had a bluish sheen, and it's the first time I've seen this.  Report & Photographs by David Fenwick Snr on Porcupine Society  facebook BMLSS Barnacles Tubeworms on the fish box (images)

26 September 2013
A three metres long 234 kg (515 lb) Bluefin Tuna Thunnus thynnus was landed caught and landed at Tarbert, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. 

25 September 2013
A large pod of Bluefin Tuna Thunnus thynnus were spotted off the coast of Donegal, Ireland. There have been numerous reports of big fish jumping out of the water. One was caught by an angler and brought into Mullaghmore, County Sligo. This specimen weighed a massive 285 kg (628 lb).

The Western Atlantic stock of Bluefin Tuna is on the Red List as critically endangered. It is illegal to catch and land this species of fish in the UK. (It was landed in Ireland.) 

BMLSS Tunnies

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

British Marine Life Study Society
facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/glaucus/

This Wall is now working properly and members can now post on it. This is designed for quick less important chatty news items. Photographs can be uploaded quickly which is only possible on the Yahoo Group by going to the web page.

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

Wet Thumb (Marine Aquariology) Forum Link
 
 
 

Lots of marine wildlife reports from Shetland on facebook Photographs include undersea, sea mammals and birds.  Click on the image to connect

(1) when the fish are captured on road and line or in a prawn net or when the fish is asleep at night, or when the fish is distressed, the markings change to a vertical barring which obscures both spots. This gives rise to the impression that there are two different wrasse species in the first place and distinguishing features cannot be discerned.

(2) many of the fish caught show markings that seem half way between the two and it is difficult to distinguish which species it is to such an extent that all photographs of Symphodus bailloni are open to doubt. The much commoner Corkwing Wrasse sometime has markings on the rear of the dorsal fin resembling the black spot in the upper photograph. Baillon's Wrasse is regarded as a scarce or local species. Sometimes it is reported with the black spot preceding the caudal fin as well. Even in the Corkwing sometimes this pre-caudal black spot appears to be missing after it has been caught. The wrasse will instantly change to the vertical barring when stressed but only gradually will its swimming markings return and sometimes there is a half-way stage. 

NB: in breeding livery in late summer, the colours of the Corkwing are exceptionally pronounced. The spots may then be obscured.

Remedy and requests:

There is a facebook discussion on the British Marine Life Study Society forum. We like to hear reports of the first fish and to receive photographs.

Link to the thread on the forum

Aquarium study could resolve the issue, but observations in the wild are appreciated as well, because the Corkwing builds nests and Baillon's Wrasse reportedly does not. Symphodus bailloni makes a dome like nest in soft sediment.

Storm at Dawn
Western Harbour Arm, Shoreham
Photographs by Mark Bond

Video by Mark Bond

Rolling Breakers at Southwick Beach
eastern Shoreham Harbour after the storm had receded
but still blowing a Force 8
Photograph by Andy Horton

Storm Portfolio at Shoreham
Shoreham Weather Reports 2013
 
 

Click on the images for the original photographs
 

flickr 
British Coastal Topography

facebook
British Coastal Topography
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First enquiry by EMail to Glaucus@hotmail.com

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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)

 

Publisher: marine scotland

Scotland's Marine Atlas

Scotland's Marine Atlas is an assessment of the condition of Scotland's seas, based on scientific evidence from data and analysis and supported by expert judgement.

Click on the image for the free publication. 
 

Published: 27 March 2013 
ISBN (EPUB): 9781782564485 
ISBN (MOBI): 9781782564478 

EBook Reader Software (Adobe Digital Editions)
Change the font size to small for square monitors.

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This is a book about an ocean that vanished six million years ago: the ocean of Tethys, named after a Greek sea nymph.  The oceans are important to climate and environment, and therefore to life on Earth. The story of Tethys is also a story of extinctions, and floods, and extraordinary episodes such as the virtual drying up of the Mediterranean, before being filled again by a dramatic cascade of water over the straits of Gibraltar. 
Click on the image for a review of this book

Dorrik Stow
300 pages, 15 b/w illustrations and maps.
Oxford University Press
ISBN-13: 9780199214297
 
 

by Paul Kay & Frances Dipper 
£19.95 incl. p&p
Soft cover

With 256 pages and numerous photographs supported by drawings, this book is the most comprehensive photographic guide to marine fish currently available in the UK. Published for the Marine Conservation Society with support from the Countryside Council for Wales.

Click on the image to order this book through the Marine Conservation Society

RECOMMENDED PURCHASE *****

July 2010

PS: A second revised edition of the book has been published. 

SEASHORE SAFARIS
 
 
 

Publisher: Graffeg
Publisher's Review (click on this text)
Review by the City and County of Swansea

This is the book I should have written (and I dare say a few others as well) and is a much needed introduction to the world of the seashore and the hobby of rockpooling. It is a photographic guide to most of the common species encountered which is much appreciated as newcomers and even experienced rockpoolers will try and match up what they have seen to a visual image (and photographs work better than line drawings) and this will usually get them the correct species, (unless there are two very alike species and then you will need a specialist identification guide like the Collins Guide to the Seashore).

However, the seashore is a rich and interesting habitat with a myriad of species and 225 pages of this large pocket guide are comprehensively covered to suit the enthusiast.

Extract from the foreword by Keith Hiscock:
"Being able to names to what you see and, better still, to use your observations to add to our knowledge about the natural world is what this book is about."

But the book for a popular audience is more than this. It starts from the assumption that the parents and teachers and older children are unfamiliar with the seashore environment.

RECOMMENDED PURCHASE *****

Not just a cookery book: you have to go down to the shore and catch or collect the food yourself. The 240 page hardback book (with an index) is exceptionally well produced in quality of the binding, paper as well as the quality of writing, information and clear useful colour photographs. It is well organised into nine chapters:

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

 
 
 

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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