Look what’s living in our seas!

And take the chance to celebrate it with The Wildlife Trusts during National Marine Week

30th July, 2010

Exciting sightings of marine creatures are being reported in the run up to The Wildlife Trusts’ National Marine Week, which kicks off on Saturday 31 July.

Within three weeks, Dorset Wildlife Trust has reported new records of anemone shrimps living in snakelocks anemones in several locations (the only previous UK record was at Swanage pier) whilst offshore a local fisherman caught and released an endangered thresher shark. The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales recorded a pilot whale, an unusual sighting for the Irish Sea. And Manx Wildlife Trust has reported sightings of a pod of around twenty Risso’s dolphins from the Manx Basking Shark Watch research boat.

The Wildlife Trusts’ annual event runs until Sunday 15 August and throughout National Marine Week will be launching its vision for Living Seas - its plan for the future of the UK’s marine life - to the public at hundreds of events up and down the UK. A 14 minute film about The Wildlife Trusts’ Living Seas vision is now available to watch on Youtube: youtube.com/user/thewildlifetrusts.

The UK’s seas are valued by us all, not just those who live on the coast, and inland Trusts will be taking part in the celebrations too - holding fossil walks in fishy fancy dress, and even transforming swimming pools into undersea landscapes.

There is still plenty of the ‘sea creature spotting’ season to go, with basking sharks usually sighted until August, whales, dolphins and porpoises taking advantage of shoaling fish inshore until the autumn. The Wildlife Trusts are running rockpool rambles throughout National Marine Week, where you never know what you might find – everything from a broad-clawed porcelain crab to the elegant pipefish.

Lissa Goodwin, Living Seas officer for The Wildlife Trusts, said:

“The summer months are the ideal time to spot some of our most fascinating marine species - as the reports from Trusts over recent weeks demonstrate, you could be awestruck by the sight of a whale fin cutting through the surface of the water, or simply intrigued by the delicate swaying of anemone tentacles in a rockpool.

“Even if you don’t live by the sea it’s hard not to appreciate the wonderful creatures that inhabit our oceans. There’s the curious tompot blenny, a small but bold fish that often comes to check out divers, the fearsome spider crab which can reach over a metre in length, and the technicolour sea slugs whose stunning looks rival any creature on sea or land.

“National Marine Week is a chance to appreciate and celebrate this wonderful variety, and The Wildlife Trusts feel this is the perfect time to launch our vision for Living Seas to the public. It’s our plan for the future of the UK’s marine life – we want to see our oceans returned to their former splendour through the implementation of the new Marine and Coastal Access Act, and we want the public to share our vision too. This will give us the greatest chance of achieving Living Seas, where wildlife thrives from the depths of the ocean to the coastal shallows.”

Whether it’s clinging to a rock among a sea of anemones, or buried in the soft sand in cunning camouflage, the wildlife hidden beneath the waves around the UK is intriguing and mysterious. Why not take a voyage of discovery during The Wildlife Trusts’ National Marine Week. For more details on activities and events taking place visit wildlifetrusts.org.

Story by RSWT

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Image credit: Okenia elegans sea slug by Paul Naylor

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