Our survey operations in Offshore Brighton have so far
focussed on the collection of still images and video from the seabed using the
drop-frame camera system, these provide our team on the boat with plenty to
talk about and try and identify. The drop-frame camera is also equipped with
other sensors used to measure parameters such as temperature, salinity and dissolved
oxygen. These measurements provide us with some key information about what the
environment on the seabed is like, whether it changes across the site and
potentially clues as to why the animals we are finding are living where they
are.
We have begun our sampling in a ‘rocky’ part of the MCZ, a
substrate vital for sessile (non-moving) animals like sponges, bryozoans (sea
mosses), anemones and sea squirts as well as providing nooks and crannies for
mobile species including crustaceans and some fish species.
Though more redolent of David than Richard Attenborough1, in
our short time here we have nonetheless encountered a colourful cast of
characters, some of whom you can see below.
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| © JNCC and Cefas 2019 |
Bright green jewel anemones (Corynactis viridis) attached to a rock at Offshore Brighton MCZ
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| © JNCC and Cefas 2019 |
Sponges, including a breadcrumb sponge (likely Halichondria panicea, encrusting a rock at Offshore Brighton MCZ. Scallops (likely Aequipecten opercularis) have also anchored themselves here using their cementlike “byssal” thread.
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| © JNCC and Cefas 2019 |
Animals growing amongst the compacted gravel at Offshore
Brighton MCZ. Here we have the bryozoan Horn Wrack (Flustra foliacea), and two
sponges; a yellow Hedgehog sponge (Polymastia boletiformis), and a branching
sponge called Mermaid’s Glove (Raspailia ramosa).
Survey fun fact
The site area of Offshore Brighton MPA is 862km2 which is roughly ten times the size of Brighton!
1 Wondering about Richard Attenborough's connection? He played the lead character, "Pinkie", in none other than the classic 1948 adaptation of Graham Greene's 1938 novel "Brighton Rock"
