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A rare Slipper Lobster,
Scyllarus arctus
was caught in a lobster pot off south west
Ireland on the 15th June. and was taken alive to a tank in
Dingle Oceanworld. It is thought to be the first record of this
species from Irish
waters and perhaps the most northerly European record to date.
Douglas Herdson of the National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth has
records of 27 in British waters from 1758 to 1999, 24 from
Cornwall (all but one from the south coast) and three from south
Devon. Since 2002 at least half of the females have been “in
berry” The name Slipper Lobster is a bit misleading for it is
not a Lobster at all. Lobsters are in the infraorder
Astacidea
and
Scyllarus arctus
is in the infraorder
Palinura
It has a very broad tailfan which enables rapid escape from
predators. They are quite small, growing up to 120 mm or 4¾
inches long.
There are reports from Denmark of a third
outbreak of Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV), the disease which
poses a threat to thousands of Seals, particularly Common Seals.
Thousands died during the last outbreak, some on the east coast
of Britain. The Grey Seal is not immune to the disease but it
does not always kill them. Some conservationists consider this
to be an “animal welfare issue” and not a conservation issue,
and that it would be perverse to pour a lot of conservation
agency and Wildlife Trust money into an issue which is not a
conservation issue, and that the seal population will bounce
back from an outbreak as they did last time. The disease did not
reach the west country last time, but our Grey Seals have
problems of their own, for 34 Grey Seal carcasses were found on
Cornish Beaches this year up to the end of April, seven of these
were pups. Its amazing how the population seems to be viable
despite such mortality. Other strandings during this time were
26 Common Dolphins, 4 unidentified dolphins, 13 Harbour
Porpoises, 1 Striped Dolphin and 1 Bottlenose Dolphin. There
were 2 Loggerhead Turtles, ( but one was stranded alive and was
taken for rehabilitation). 20 Grey Triggerfish were found on
various beaches early January, and 26 Violet Sea Snails were
found on various beaches, also Goose Barnacles on 3 beaches
during January.
Thousands of By-the-wind-Sailors were found at
Sennen on January 3rd and Common and Elegant Cuttlefish at
Perranporth and a Nightlight Jellyfish, (
 Pelagia
noctiluca) at
Gwithian.. Dead birds found were 9 Razorbils, 5 Guillemots, 2
Puffin, and 2 Manx Shearwaters. Several types of Beans were also
cast up, including Bay Beans, Sea Hearts, Nickar Nuts, Sea Peas,
Sea Purse, Sea Bindweed, Operculine species (Convolvulus) and
quite a few White Moonflower. The Moonflower beans would have
arrived from the Caribbean. The Moonflower is a vine which can
cover large ground areas and climb well up into trees. The large
white flowers bloom at night and close by late morning, lasting
for one night only.
There were 101 Basking Shark reports sent in
during June, sightings from all around the coast from Boscastle
on the north coast to Pendennis Point near Falmouth on the
south. The largest number in one report was of 16 in Whitesand
Bay, Sennen on the 4th June. There were 16 reports of Bottlenose
Dolphins, 14 of which were of a pod of about 10, either in the
St Ives area or the Camel Estuary area, and a couple of reports
of the well known pair with distinctive fins.
There were 9 other reports of unidentified
dolphins, almost certainly Bottlenose Dolphins because they were
off St Ives or the Camel Estuary at the right times. Nine
reports of Harbour Porpoises, were again all around West Penwith
from Cape Cornwall to Mousehole.
A solitary Risso's Dolphin was seen off Cape
Cornwall and a Minke Whale was seen from the Scillonian III
when just off The Isles of Scilly. Two Ocean Sunfish were seen,
one off St Michaels Mount and the other off St Ives Island.
The most exciting and interesting sighting
was of a pod of about 40 Striped Dolphins seen off Porthgwarra
on the 17th June. They were travelling at speed in a tight pod
400 metres offshore heading toward the Wolf rock and watched
through a telescope they lingered just to the east of the Wolf
Rock Lighthouse, presumably to feed, with many Gannets overhead.
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