Notes and memoranda

On a specimen of Leptocephalus morrisii. New record of Cuthona? aurantiaca off Plymouth (UK)

Faunistic notes

Notes on dredging and trawling work during the latter half of 1895. On Doris maculata, a new species of Nudibranchiate mollusk found at Plymouth. On the changes in the pelagic fauna of Plymouth during September, 1893 and 1895. Notes on Nautilograpsus minutus, Milne Edwards.

Recent reports of fishery authorities

reports summarized are: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland 1894. Annual Report of the Newfoundland Department of Fisheries, 1894. Report of the United States Commissioner of Fish & Fisheries, year ending June 30th, 1895 The fourth report of the Danish Biological Station.

Recent reports of fishery authorities

The following reports are reviewed: Fourteenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland 1895 Report of the Danish Biological Station to the Home Department. V, 1894 Wissenschaftliches Meeresuntersuchungen herausgegben von der Kommission zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung der deutschen Meere in Kiel und der Biologischen Anstalt auf Helgoland. Neue Folge, Zweiter Band. Heft 1, Abteilung 1. 1896

Investigation of benthic community change over a century-wide scale in the western English Channel

Since the early part of the 20th Century the impact of a range of anthropogenic activities in our coastal seas has steadily increased. The effect of such activities is a major cause for concern but in the benthic environment few studies exist that date back more than a few decades. Hence understanding long term changes is a challenge. Within this study we utilized a historic benthic dataset and resurveyed an area west of Eddystone reef in the English Channel previously investigated 112 years ago. The aim of the present work was to describe the current benthic community structure and investigate potential differences between 1895 and 2007. For each of the four major phyla investigated (Polychaeta, Crustacea, Mollusca and Echinodermata), multivariate community analysis showed significant differences between the historic and contemporary surveys. Echinoderm diversity showed a clear reduction between 1895 and 2007. The sea urchins Echinus esculentus, Spatangus purpureus, and Psammechinus miliaris and large star-fish Marthasterias glacialis showed reductions in abundance, in some cases being entirely absent from the survey area in 2007. Polychaetes showed a shift from tubiculous species to small errant and predatory species such as Glycera, Nephtys, and Lumbrineris spp. Within the group Mollusca large species such as Pecten maximus and Laevicardium crassum decreased in abundance while small species increased. Crustaceans in 1895 were dominated by crab species which were present in similar abundances in 2007, but, the order Amphipoda appeared to show a significant increase. While some of the differences observed could stem from differences in methodologies between the surveys, in particular increases of small cryptic species, the loss of large conspicuous species was judged to be genuine. The study area is an important beam trawling and scallop dredging ground; the differences observed are concomitant with changes generally associated with disturbance from demersal fishing activities such as these.