CONSERVATION ISSUES - OCTOBER 2006

Compass Jellyfish, Chrysaora hysoscella, can often be found stranded on our beaches as well as seen floating offshore. The next time you find one, it may be worth looking a little closer, for one can sometimes see what they had for their last meal in their jelly-like transparent body.  Sixteen or more were found at low tide on the beach at Sandy Mouth north of Bude on the 9th September, and several had been feeding on the little symbiotic amphipod crustacean Hyperia galba. These are remarkable little creatures with large green eyes, and as adults they are only found alive inside jellyfish.  

Our joint meeting with the Kernow Microscopical Society mid September was a great success, despite the disappointing number of visitors who turned up. Alan had found the seaweed Ceramium rubrum that we were hoping to examine, the seaweed renowned for the number of diatoms that collects on it,  and we did find many diatoms of different species. Fred’s collection of plankton was fantastic, and we were able to find several species of copepods and pagurid larvae as well as several strange creatures that we could not identify. The KMS expressed their thanks for the invitation to the clubroom and said how much they enjoyed the visit, and indeed expressed a hope that they could return some day in the future.

Leatherback Turtles are regular visitors to our shores, but it is nearly always the older turtles that venture this far north east, but this year so far two very young turtles have been seen. The first was spotted by a windsurfer at Constantine Bay on August the 8th and this one was only 45 cm. long. The second was seen by a surfer off Fistral beach, Newquay, on the 16th August, this one was also less than a metre long. 

‘Rare fish is evidence of global climate change’ was a headline in "the Cornishman” of September 21st, but is that really the case? There was a very good picture of the very rare Pufferfish caught 40 miles off the Lizard by a Newlyn Trawler. There are approximately 120 species of Pufferfish that have elastic skin and no ribs. They defend themselves by inflating their bodies with water until they are sphere shaped. As they inflate sharp spines spring up out of their bodies which act as a shield against any would be attacker.

The Cornishman picture showed a fish, blue on the back with a white spotted underside which looks like the pufferfish Lagocephalus lagocephalus. In my book it shows its range as being all the way up the west coast of Britain, as far as the Scottish Islands, and they have certainly been caught off Orkney in the past; so the claim about global climate change may be a bit uncertain.

There were 12 reported sightings of Bottlenose Dolphins last month, all around St. Ives Bay except one sighting of 6 just off Plymouth on the 5th. Three other reports of dolphins were probably also the Bottlenose dolphins on the north coast, although further east than the St Ives pod.  Two Harbour Porpoise sightings were of 4 off the Brisons and 2 small pods near the Eddystone Light, where a Minke Whale was also seen.

There were 12 reported sightings of Basking Sharks, all around Penwith, from Long Rock to Pendeen. The largest number seen together were 17 off Lamorna on the 5th. The 6 Ocean Sunfish sightings were all on the north coast from Pendeen to Newquay  Small numbers of Grey Seals were seen at The Rumps, Soap Cove and Godrevy. A Killer Whale or Orca was seen off Gwithian on the 3rd and also that day a Pipefish was scooped up in a net at Customhouse Quay Falmouth. Other rare fish seen during the month were Yellow Fin Tuna and a Blue Runner.

I have not received the list of strandings for the month.  

                                                                 Conservation Officer Raymond Dennis

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