Irish Marine Life
inshore offshore play science coral-reefs crabs ag snámh news think imeachtaíThe violence of our peaceful seas
Normal North Atlantic order has restored itself after a most remarkable 4 weeks in Ireland’s recent meteorological history. It will be hard now to discern any surface goings-on between shore and horizon with wind and swell likely to run for weeks on end as they often do in January and February, driven to us by lows sweeping across from Newfoundland in our general direction.
These lows stopped for that extraordinarily Siberian month, blocked by a strong high pressure air- mass to our North which made for a very still Atlantic allowing me one evening to sharply define the space between caudal fin and ocean and see through the burst of spray between dorsal fin and sky. It could be September but for the 10 degree water I thought as the three dolphins surged powerfully high out of a flat sea and all of this silhouetted by a low cloudless sunset over Renvyle.
Such acrobatic behaviour, in particular whirling vertical leaps is more noted of the smaller common dolphin which is usually found far offshore over the continental shelf in great numbers. They are only occasionally seen inshore and that’s usually in the southwest of the country. There was not enough light to be sure but these were most likely bottlenoses, which do from time to time leap and spin like this, and bow ride and surf of course too. But then the bottlenoses are continuously surprising us. Reports of porpoises with great shark-like chunks taken from them a hundred miles or so south of here this summer led to the surprising discovery of research, mostly from Britain, on violent bottlenose attacks on porpoises.
Where the two species occur together, the most common cause of washed up porpoises’ death was attacks from bottlenose dolphins according to The British Environment Ministry. They don’t compete for food and scientists are guessing that it is a simple territorial aggression, with serious costs for the muc mhara (the porpoise is the pig of the sea in Irish). Damage recorded to porpoises includes broken ribs, internal organ rupture as well as bite marks. Have some of the many that wash up on Mayo’s shores experienced the same underwater violence? Probably, but data and studies could say for sure.
The bottlenose is not the indifferent play seeker we may have thought and neither does the muc mhara dip from cuain to cuainín in Clew Bay as carefree as it could appear.
The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is grey to black above and light grey on the underside. They have a tall fin and a long, rounded beak with a curved mouth-line giving the familiar smiling expression. They are usually seen in small groups and frequently inshore where they are engaging and playful. The common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is smaller than the bottlenose with a distinctive ‘hourglass’ colour pattern on its sides; yellow to the front and light grey to the back. Above this hourglass shape is black and below is white. They have a tall fin and a long black beak. They are more commonly seen in deeper waters in large numbers, but are sometimes seen off coastal headlands in summer. Report your dolphin sightings to The irish Whale and Dolphin Group at www.iwdg.ie
This piece appeared in The Mayo News 02/02/2010 edition
Humpback breaching – footage
A huge congragulations to everyone in The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group who was involved in getting the incredible footage seen by so many last night on the RTE News. Anyone who had not previously heard of the iwdg have now, and Ireland’s profile as a country that is aware of its stunning marine life has been raised considerably. Here is the video footage…
Remarkable weekend for whale watchers in Ireland
The Hook Head area was the location last week for some of the most remarkable large marine life activity ever witnessed in Ireland. These pictures from RTE.ie show a humpback whale breaching, with common dolphins, harbour porpoises and fin whales also present in the area. The activity was witnessed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group who also succesfully recovered a sample of whale flesh which will allow genetic analysis of the whale’s gender. Such information is of exceptional value given the humpbacks’ threatened status.
Read more about the event on the iwdg.ie website.
Shellfish on Bettystown Beach
Irishmarinelife received a report today of thousands of shellfish washed up on Bettystown Beach, Meath around the 12th of January. The observer was at a loss to identify the species, a light coloured and relatively large bivalve, smooth and unlike a scallop or oyster species.
After some researching it is probably the Otter Shell that she saw (Lutraria lutraria) which burrows in sand and mud substrates and is found mostly in The Irish Sea and also parts of Connemara.
There was a period of sustained easterly gales leading up to the 12th which led to the extraordinary disturbance of its habitat and its displacement onto the shore. We did not receive any photos of the event; if you have any, please send them to irishmarinelife@gmail.com.
The Irish Times – North Donegal Basking Shark Hotspot
Tiny Marine Birds, Big Migrations – Irish Times Article
Least we forget that our marine life is limited to the terrestrial and aquatic zones, we host an impressive selection of birds who live out their lives, or parts of them along our coasts.
They can be big like the sometimes coastal winter migrant whooper swan, 2 of which beat a low flightpath past me last week as I waited for waves outside Doughmakone Strand. They can also be tiny and impressively migrant as the Irish Times reports today of The Arctic Tern. They make a round trip of 44,000 miles, pole to pole to be comprehensively global, spending months between March and Septmeber on our shores.
Similar to The Common Tern, but smaller, it is considered to have the longest migration of all birds, as The Irish Times reports, making journeys over the course of its lifetime equal to three trips to the moon. Read the article here.
Read Birdwatch Ireland’s species profile here.
Irish Marine Life On Facebook
Yet more ways to keep up with Irish Marine Life. Find us on facebook here
Irish Surfers Against Pollution
One group of people who spend a remarkable amount of time in the biologially rich intertidal and nearshore zone are surfers. The nature of their pursuit requires an acute awareness of their immediate environment; surfers are always a good source of valuable field observations and inadvertently come to know our marine life more than most.
They are aware also, that their environment is far from pristine, and in places like Bundoran, Enniscrone and Portballintrae, explosive urban style development often sees them sharing reef space with untreated sewage. Its not good for marine life; surfers, mollusks, seals inclusive.
Irish Surfers Against Pollution is a response to this. They are a new non-profit making organisation in Ireland with a primary goal of cleaning up our coastal waters, creating awareness of our problem areas and freeing them from raw sewage. Similar groups such as Surfers Against Sewage in The UK and The Surfrider Foundation in The U.S. have gained considerable lobbying power through persistent and well informed efforts.
Visit them here at www.irishsurfersagainstpollution.org or follow their facebook page here
Happy New Year
Irishmarinelife has been publishing since July. Our subject is that of the marine but our produce is words. Here’s a collection of the most frequent ones from the past 6 months.
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