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

27 November - 7 December 2018
The Sei Whale, Balaenoptera borealis, that visited the harbour of Hobro (Ørnedalsbugten, an area of the Mariager Fjord waterway that travels from Hobro to the Kattegat sea), Denmark, eventually perished. It looked emaciated and ill and it made no attempt to swim away to the open sea.

23 November 2018

A dolphin washed ashore dead at Pevensey Bay, East Sussex, was discovered to be an unexpected White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhyncus albirostris, that is not normally found this far east up the English Channel. 

14 November 2018

Amongst the debris washed ashore on Chesil Beach, Dorset, included Goose Barnacles, Lepas anserifera, Lepas pectinata and Lepas hilli, and the rarer pelagic species Concoderma virgatum.

BMLSS Barnacles

12 November 2018
A surprise Risso’s Dolphin, Grampus griseus, was spotted swimming in the tidal River Ouse (map) (tidal tributary of the River Humber) over 30 miles away from the North Sea. Any dolphin would be a surprise that far upstream of a substantial estuary but the pelagic Risso’s Dolphin is usually only seen to the west and north of the British Isles and does not normally inhabit the North Sea. 

7 October 2018

Angler Jeff Fisk caught the southern fish known in England as the Pompano (also called a Derbio), Trachinotus ovatus, during a fishing competition off Chesil Beach, Dorset. It weighed 216 grams (7.6 oz). Other fish caught at the same time were Garfish and Mackerel.

Derbio is a warm water fish that is only rarely seen or caught in British seas, a moderately common shoaling fish in shallow water in areas of surge in the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Atlantic shores. This small fish (up to 35 cm long) is found in clear waters over sand or mud bottoms in the surf zone and also caught by anglers from rocky shores from the Bay of Biscay southwards. 
Previous Record 2014

3 October 2018
Six large Edible Crabs, Cancer pagurus, were landed at Littlehampton, Sussex,  from 25 miles offshore in the English Channel. The largest one weighed 4.4 kg (9 lb 4 oz) with a carapace width estimated at about a foot (300 cm).

25 September 2018

A most unexpected discovery of an all white Beluga Whale, Delphinapterus leucas, seen actively swimming in the narrow part of the estuary of the River Thames, was first spotted by ecologist and ornithologist Dave Andrews, who said it had been feeding around barges near Gravesend in Kent. The video showed the whale looked in healthy condition despite being thousands of miles from its normal home in Arctic seas. 

Beluga are sociable toothed whales and a very agile like dolphins which enables them to catch fish and crustaceans. Their nearest normal habitat is Arctic seas, of Russia, north of Norway, where they need their echo-location to avoid the pack ice and to find blow holes and to come to the surface in open sea to breathe. 
Previous Report 2015Daily Telegraph Day 3 Report

22 June 2018

A tall black fin appearing above the surface of the water in Plymouth Sound was thought to be a rare appearance of a Killer Whale, Orca orcinus, off the south west coast of England.

6 June 2018

At the depth of ten metres off the Dorset coast I discovered my first Common Octopus, Octopus vulgaris, in thirty years of diving. This was a very large octopus, at tip to tip about two metres long and his head was about double the size of a rugby ball. It seemed about as big as me. Octopuses are usually nocturnal, but this one was active in the daytime. 

The Common Octopus is most easily identified, if discovered in the English Channel, by having two rows of suckers. A hearsay reports says they were all wiped out in the cold winter of 1963. This octopus is a southern species at its northern biogeographical limit in winter off British coasts.
BMLSS Octopuses
 

18 May 2018
A Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus, was spotted at Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. Bearded Seals are a non-migratory Arctic species that feed on molluscs including clams. Visits to the most northerly of the Scottish isles are rare and newsworthy.

FORUM NEWS

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Mailing Groups
 
 

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

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

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.
 

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