DORMOUSE HABITAT PREFERENCES
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MARINE RECORDER REPORT 2016 AND 2017 GEN BROAD From sponges to seals I am grateful to the Seasearch East team (led by Dawn Watson and Rob Spray) for submitting their 2016 marine records for a wide range of marine groups including seaweeds, tunicates, polychaete worms, sponges, hydrozoans, crustaceans, molluscs and bryozoans from sites in Aldeburgh, Orford Ness, Levington Marina, Felixstowe and Lowestoft. In addition, SNS member Jerry Bowdrey has made a significant contribution to marine records from strandline walks at Southwold, Sizewell and Thorpeness. These include records of sharks, jellyfish and squid, which shows just what interesting and unexpected finds can be made on our beaches! The following gives an indication only of the scope of the records submitted by Seasearch East. Common species at Orford Ness pontoon included Oaten pipes hydroid Tubularia indivisa, the sea anemone Diadumene cincta, Common mussel Mytilus edulis, Orange-tip nudibranch Cuthona gymnota and the Peacock worm Sabella pavonina. Frequent and abundant species at Levington Marina included Orange-tipped sea squirt Corella eumyota, the solitary sea squirt Ascidiella aspersa, Star Ascidian Botryllus schlosseri and two non-native seaweeds - Wakame or Japanese kelp Undaria pinnatifida and Wireweed Sargassum muticum, originally from Japan and China. Crustaceans recorded from Felixstowe included the Hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus, Shore crab Carcinus maenas and Velvet swimming crab Necora puber. Sea grapes (Molgula sp.), a common genus of sea squirts, were recorded from four of the Seasearch sites - Lowestoft, Levington Marina, Felixstowe and Aldeburgh. Three Northern or Veined Squid (Loligo forbesi) were washed up on Thorpeness beach in August 2017 (Plate 17) and identified by Dr Vladimir Laptikhovsky of the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas). Dr Laptikhovsky believes these were probably juveniles, descendants of the winter spawning off Scotland, which then forage across the North Sea. Although juveniles do not have the distinctive ventral “stripes” of the adults, the species can be identified by the tentacular clubs which have suckers all of the same size. The central two rows of suckers on the tentacular club are much larger than the outer two rows on the similar European squid Loligo vulgaris. Jerry Bowdrey, who reported finding these individuals, also found a squid ‘pen’, probably from the same species, on the strandline between Shingle Street and Bawdsey in September 2017. The remains of two sharks were found on Southwold beach in January 2017 (also by Jerry Bowdrey). Scavengers had eaten parts of the animals and most of the key features were missing, but Dr Jim Ellis from Cefas suggested that the remains were probably those of the Spiny Dogfish or Spurdog Squalus acanthias (Plate 12). This is one of the most common small sharks in the East of England, especially in the winter months, along with the Starry Smooth-hound and Tope. The approximate position of the pectoral and pelvic fins, the shape of the snout, the appearance of the eye and spiracles all point to these remains being those of Spurdog. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 53 (2017)