UK marine life field guides
J Shepherd
She's already finished work. She's now gadding about on Utila
scaring small crustaceans, helping with an expedition.
Don't bet on her being any help :-) I don't want to say she's
weird, but you know that white scum on kelp
(fade up scary organ chord)
... she knows its name!
(Crescendo, lightening, evil cackle, fade to black).
Even she looks for a decent field guide. The difference is she
reads it and remembers it, whilst the rest of us leave it on the coffee
table and just remember important things like; Cyanea capillata hurts.
Can we all say that? Cyanea capillata... OW!
:-)
(PADI Marine biology course)
J
Bill Burnett
David Kipling <dav...@hgu.mrc.ac.uk> wrote:
>Hi
>
> Anyone got any recommendations for good field guides for marine
>life identification in the UK? I have some general ones but need
>something a bit more detailed...e.g. I can tell Galathea from Homarus but
>I would like to be able to tell which Galathea sp. I'm tormenting!
Ugh! Why would you torment a Galathea? You don't want to torment a
Galathea, you want to torment a Munida longirostris. Thems lovely,
them is. They're the less hairy, not blue striped, long thin clawed
squatties. Galathea's the shorter, hairier, stripier ones that
don't taste as good...
What you want, David, is a copy of Hayward and Rylands "Handbook to the
marine fauna of NW Europe." It is the business. It's also written jointly
by a personal friend and my ex-PhD supervisor, but don't let my personal
bias put you off, it's honestly excellent. Pete Hayward is one of *the*
top marine txonomists around.
> Of course, what I *really* need is a professional marine
>biologist to take me out and train me in the field :-)
Professional? As in paid for it, or as in actually knows what they're
talking about? :-)
I do keep saying come on over... Alternatively get Jason to introduce you
to Clare when she gets back from gadding about central America on
"fieldwork". Yeah, right Clare, anything you say... :-)
B.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Burnett: bb...@dml.ac.uk
Scottish Association for Marine Science
P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4AD.
Bill Burnett
j...@tattoo.ed.ac.uk (J Shepherd) wrote:
>
> She's already finished work. She's now gadding about on Utila
>scaring small crustaceans, helping with an expedition.
Just had a postcard from Hondurus. Sounds horrible. 40m vis? Who needs it.
But what's so special about scaring small crustaceans? David does that all
the time, right?
> Don't bet on her being any help :-) I don't want to say she's
>weird, but you know that white scum on kelp
>
> (fade up scary organ chord)
>
> ... she knows its name!
Surely you mean Membranipora membranacea, that well known cosmopolitan bryozoan?
What are you saying?
> (Crescendo, lightening, evil cackle, fade to black).
Hey! It's dark in here...
>
> Even she looks for a decent field guide. The difference is she
>reads it and remembers it, whilst the rest of us leave it on the coffee
>table and just remember important things like; Cyanea capillata hurts.
I know she likes Hayward and Ryland too... I think the coffee stains
on her copy may be mine, or maybe Thom's, from that wild wet and windy
Summer Isles trip. Note we only get invited on the cold damp crappy
UK trips, not the cushy central American numbers.
> Can we all say that? Cyanea capillata... OW!
>
> :-)
>
> (PADI Marine biology course)
>
That's the trouble with these courses, they just don't go into *why*. I mean,
all those millions of years of evolution, that delicate trigger mechanism,
that osmotically operated everting barbed shaft... I mean, if you really
understood what was involved you'd be able to make sensible evaluations of
the situation but no, they just say "Cyanea capillata... OW!". It's a disgrace.
:-)
Final fitting for my new drysuit today, including the all important careful
positioning of the relief zip. A tricky balance to strike between ego and
practicality.
B.
Sports diver drills tonight. Novice on a string anyone?