Some marine endolithic algae grow well and are restricted to the strongly lit littoral and uppermost sublittoral environments. The wide depth ranging boring algae must however adapt to different light intensities. Whereas Eugomontia sacculata Kornmann is considered as a form adapted to high light intensity (Akpan, 1981), Ostreobium quekettii Bornet & Flahault and Conchocelis - a boring phase in the life cycle of red algae in the Porphyra and Bangia genera - are able to survive under low light conditions even though they thrive at depths with strong illuminations (Rooney & Perkins, 1972; Clokie & Boney, 1980). Sheath, Hellebust & Sawa (1977) have demonstrated that the Conchocelis of a Porphyra sp. can survive prolonged very dim light condition and probably remain in a ‘steady state’ without growth in the dark for a long time. This adaptation is important for those algae in the lower part of the photic zone because during winter, deep light penetration is hampered.

Yonge (1962) suggests a possible universal occurrence of byssal apparatus in the post-larval spat of bivalves. Subsequent studies have revealed that the byssus thread secreted by the post-larval byssal apparatus of many bivalves is involved in settlement as well as migration by means of bysso-pelagic drifting (Sigurdsson, Titman & Davis, 1976; Blok & Tan-Maas, 1977; Board, 1983). Recent studies on the byssus and other foot glands in the early stages of bivalves have included Ostrea edulis (Cranfield, 1973 a, b, c); Pecten maximus (Gruffydd, Lane & Beaumont, 1975); Mytilus edulis (Lane & Nott, 1975; Lane, Nott & Crisp, 1982); and Chlamys varia L. (Gruffydd, Budiman & Nott, 1979)

A number of nematodes are known to develop in decapod crustaceans. These parasite nematodes are present in the coelom of the host either free or surrounded by different types of host cells. All belong to the order Ascaridida or Spirurida and most of them develop only to the third larval stage in the decapod host; further development takes place in a predator of the crustacean which is generally a teleost or elasmobranch (Berland, 1961; Ouspenskaia, 1960; Petter, 1970; Poinar & Kuris, 1975;Uspenskaja, 1953; Yamaguti, 1961). The life-cycle in most cases is not fully understood. Ouspenskaia (1960) and Uspenskaja (1953, 1963) deduced the life-cycle for Ascarophis morrhuae van Beneden and A. filiformis Poljanski in the Barents Sea by relating the larvae found in decapod crustaceans through affinity of characters to the adults present in cod (Gadus morhua L.) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus L.). Similarly, the life-cycle of the spirurid Proleptus obtusus was described by Lloyd (1928); the larvae occur in a decapod crustacean, usually the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus L. and in some cases the shore crab Carcinus maenas L. and the adults are found in the lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula L.). A more complex life-cycle has been proposed for some anisakids such as Anisakis, Contracaecum and Hysterothylacium (Berland, 1961; Norris & Overstreet, 1976; Wootten, 1978) in which more than one intermediate host is required.

Adults of the isopod genus Holophryxus (Dajidae) occur as ectoparasites on natant decapod crustaceans, but little is known of the ecology and life-history of most species. Species of Holophryxus are thought to have a typical dajid life cycle involving an intermediate host (copepod), a definitive host (prawn) and three larval stages (epicaridium, microniscus, cryptoniscus), and the one species for which details are available fits this pattern (Coyle & Mueller, 1981). The final host is infected by the cryptoniscus, a stage superficially resembling a cirolanid isopod, and the first cryptoniscus to settle loses its isopod-like appearance and develops through a juvenile stage into a rather inflated, highly modified female (Coyle & Mueller, 1981). Any subsequent settler becomes a male, retains the small cryptoniscus body form and lives within the marsupium of the female.

On the 16 June 1982 a thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788), became entangled in a gill net at Bigbury Bay, S. Devon. The stomach contents were found to consist solely of teleost otoliths. The soft tissues of prey taken by large marine predators are often macerated and digested very rapidly or, as in this case, regurgitated during capture or stranding. Identification of the prey is therefore only possible from the hard parts which often remain, e.g. teleost otoliths, bones and scales, and cephalopod beaks, statoliths and gladiuses. The regular seasonal occurrences in the waters off south-west England and south-west Ireland make the thresher the most common of the large sharks in this area. Their accidental capture or collisions with nets are not rare and they have been taken by rod and line on several occasions.

The laboratory at Plymouth was notified of the capture of five dolphins in a commercial trawl on 9 December 1982, three of the specimens were living and therefore immediately released. The remaining two were brought to the laboratory, identified as Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, 1758, their size and sex were recorded and the stomachs removed for examination of their contents. The exact location of capture was not recorded, but is known to be within 40 miles of Plymouth.

Reports of strandings of D. delphis collected by the British Museum (Natural History), (Harmer, 1914–27; Fraser, 1934, 1946, 1953, 1974) and more recent recorded sightings (Evans, 1980) show that the common dolphin is clearly not rare in British waters. Although the species has been recorded off all British coasts, sightings and strandings are concentrated off the south and south-west coasts of Britain and Ireland. The variation in their numbers and distribution both during this century and on a seasonal basis each year has been accounted for mainly by the fluctuation and movement of their food supply (Evans, 1980; Sheldrick, 1976).

This paper on Gobius niger describes the ultrastructure of free neuromast papillae of both standard and mandibular types, emphasizing the polarity of the hair cells in each row or column. Evidence to suggest a functional difference between mandibular and standard neuromasts is reviewed, together with an hypothesis concerning the developmental origin of the mandibular row, relevant to the evolution of lateral line organs in general.

Early investigations of the deep-sea fauna of the north-east Atlantic region resulted in many new Sipuncula species being described, notably by such workers as Koren & Danielssen (1877), Théel (1905), Sluiter (1900, 1912) and Southern (1913). Many of these species were erected from single, or few, specimens and some are still known only from the original records.

This paper examines the status of certain species, mostly the seemingly-rare golfingiids described by Sluiter and Southern (see Table 1), the types of which were deposited in the collections of the Irish National Museum, Dublin (INMD) and the Musée Océanographique, Monaco-Ville (MOMV), and presents some new observations and records. The names of taxa follow the classification of Cutler & Gibbs (1985); Nephasoma Pergament and Apionsoma Sluiter, formerly considered as subgenera of Golfingia Lankester, are now elevated to generic rank.

Intracellular calcium granules rich in phosphorus are found throughout the animal kingdom and occur in a wide range of different tissues (Simkiss, 1976; Mason & Nott, 1981). However, few examples of the natural occurrence of such granules in muscle cells have been recorded and thus the discovery of abundant granules composed of calcium phosphate within the muscle fibres of the polychaete Nephtys, described by Gibbs & Bryan (1984), is of considerable interest, particularly regarding the formation and function of these unusual sarcoplasmic inclusions.

Two groups of mackerel (Scomber scombrus L.) are recognised by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (I.C.E.S.) for stock assessment purposes in the north-east Atlantic. The North Sea ‘stock’, which overwinters along the edge of the Norwegian Trench and spawns off the south coast of Norway, in the Skagerrak, Kattegat and the central North Sea (Hamre, 1980), and the Western ‘stock’, which overwinters and spawns along the edge of the continental shelf from the west of Ireland to the Bay of Biscay (Lockwood, Nichols & Dawson, 1981).

Two forms of the genus Mytilus, M. edulis L. and M. galloprovincialis Lmk inhabit the rocky shores of Devon and Cornwall (Hepper, 1957). According to Gosling (1984), controversy has existed since 1860 as to whether M. galloprovincialis is a separate species or a subspecies of M. edulis. In a review of the systematic status of M. galloprovincialis, Gosling (1984) analysed the criteria used to identify and classify this form of Mytilus. Gosling did not reach any firm conclusion on the systematic status of these mytilids, but did suggest that the evidence favoured placing M. galloprovincialis as a variety, ecotype or even subspecies of M. edulis.

The maritime basin of the Ranee occupies one of the largest rias of northern Brittany (France) and since 1967, has been the location of a tidal power station. At a high tide height of 13.5 m above chart datum the basin occupies an area of 22 km2 within which Retière (1979) recognized a maritime part of about 17 km2 in extent, where bottom salinities range from 30 to 35‰, an estuarine part with salinities between 20-30‰,, of about 4 km2 and an inner estuary of limited area (1.5 km2) and reduced salinities (less than 20‰).

The current nomenclature for cells in the hepatopancreas of decapods is based on the classification of Jacobs (1928) and Hirsch & Jacobs (1928). They described the E-(embryonic), F-(fibrillar), B-(blister-like) and R-(resorptive or absorptive) cells. More recently the M-(midget) cell has been described (Al-Mohanna, Nott & Lane, 1984).

Accounts of the structure of these cells are reviewed by Gibson & Barker (1979) and the B-cells most closely resemble those described and illustrated in this paper for the period 24 h after feeding.

The small species of Pogonophora that are widely distributed in sediments along the Continental Slope and in the Norwegian fjords (Webb, 1965; Southward & Southward, 1967; Southward, 1971,1979) carry Gram-negative bacteria in the posterior part of the body (Southward, 1982). In this they resemble the giant pogonophores (Vestimentifera) that live around hydrothermal vents in the Pacific ocean floor (Cavanaugh et al. 1981; Cavanaugh, 1983). The bacteria in both groups are autotrophic (Felbeck, 1981; Southward et al. 1981), capable of synthesizing organic matter from carbon dioxide. The bacteria in Riftia and other vent pogonophores appear to obtain energy by oxidation of reduced sulphur compounds (Felbeck, 1981; Felbeck, Childress & Somero, 1981). Hydrothermal vent waters may contain as much as 6 nut dissolved sulphide (Edmond et al. 1982; Edmond & Von Damm, 1983), which is diluted to about 200-300 μM near the giant pogonophores, whose blood can transport sulphide without affecting the affinity of its haemoglobin for oxygen (Arp & Childress, 1983; Powell & Somero, 1983; Childress, Arp & Fisher, 1984).

Presence of O-group bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), has been recorded for a number of estuaries and tidal backwaters in the south of the United Kingdom, including the tidal Thames (Wheeler, 1979), the outer Thames at Southend (Murie, 1903), the Medway (Van den Broek, 1979), Langstone Harbour (Reay, 1973), the Dart (Dando & Demir, 1985), and the Tamar (Hartley, 1940). The author has found them, additionally, in Chichester Harbour and in the Cuckmere (Sussex), Teign and Tavy estuaries. Correspondents have reported them from the estuaries of the Blackwater (Cox), Crouch (Wiggins), Lynher (Gee) and Fal (Melhuish); also from the Fleet backwater in Dorset (Fear). It may be inferred that all estuaries and tidal backwaters on the south and south-east coasts of the U.K. constitute bass nurseries, in some degree.*

The ecological significance of heterotrophic micro-flagellates in marine plankton has recently drawn considerable interest among biological oceanographers (Anderson & Fenchel, 1985; Haas & Webb, 1979; Fenchel, 1985 and references therein). Such organisms have been shown to be numerous, occurring in densities of 5 x 102 to 2 x 103 per ml in surface coastal and oceanic waters. Their grazing activities are believed to account for virtually all of the turnover of populations of suspended bacteria.

Recently the influence of an electric light on the capture of the main groups of deep sea animals by a midwater trawl was described and discussed (Clarke & Pascoe, 1985). With regard to fish it was shown that at depths close to 800 m the total number, the total volume, the volume of the ten largest and the volume of the single largest fish all increased significantly when an electric light was used on the headline of the trawl when compared with controls with the light off. These experiments were carried out both in the Bay of Biscay and off Madeira.

The ormer (Haliotis tuberculata L.) occurs in some abundance off the north coast of Brittany and the Channel Islands. On the French coast, exploitation of this species is not legally authorised except in the intertidal zone and the sublittoral stocks have for some years aroused the interest of local fishermen. Studies have therefore been initiated to investigate the exploitation potential of this new resource, and different aspects of the biology and ecology of the ormer have been examined so as to make use of models of population dynamics. Thus, a study of growth merits particular attention.

Growth laminations were first noted in squid statoliths by Clarke (1966), who suggested they might be useful for age determination. Spratt (1978) presented a detailed age analysis of Loligo opalescens Berry, 1911, arguing that some rings in the cephalopod statolith were deposited daily, as are fish otoliths (Panella, 1971). Growth rings in Illex illecebrosus (Lesueur, 1921) statoliths were illustrated by Lipinski (1978) with similar interpretation to that of Spratt (op. cit.). Several further attempts have been made to validate and/or to discuss age determination from statoliths (Hurley, Drew & Radtke, 1979; Hurley et al. 1983; Wiborg, 1979; Hurley & Beck, 1980; Kristensen, 1980; Lipinski, 1980, 1981; Rosenberg, Wiborg & Bech, 1981; Martins, 1982; Radtke, 1983; Dawe et al. 1984), and several other attempts are in preparation (R. J. Hanlon, G. V. Hurley, M. R. Clarke & R. L. Radtke, personal communications).