In an earlier paper (Prandle, 1978b) estimates were made of the monthly-mean residual flows through the Dover Strait for the period 1949–72. This time series has proven to be of some interest to marine biologists (Colebrook, Reid & Coombs, 1978; Reid & Budd, 1979; Taylor et al. 1981). This short additional note extends this time series up to 1980 (Table 1).

Other model studies of wind forcing in this region have been published in recent years.

Commensal copepods were found abundantly in samples of the ascidian Molgula complanata Alder and Hancock taken from experimental panels for histological examinations (see Schmidt, 1982). As little data exists on the possible ecological importance of such association to the ascidian host (Gotto,1979 for review), the incidence of‘ infection’ was quantified in the present study over a period of 8 months.

Between 31 October 1980 and 3 June 1981 specimens ofM. complanata( 6 mm maximum diameter) were removed from panels suspended from a raft in Langstone Harbour, Hampshire; 50–125 individuals per sample. Associated copepods found in the branchial basket were:Notodelphys agilis Thorell,Botryllophilus macropus Canu, andDoropygus pulex Thorell* (cf. fig. 2 in Schmidt, 1982). The former two species occurred sporadically, but the latter consistently. Owing to the relatively large, globular size ofD. pulex (caused by very inflated brood pouches), it almost filled the space provided by the branchial basket of smallM. complanta. Hence,D. pulex was found onlyone per ascidian, although 1–3 juveniles (several copepodid stages) were often present with the adult.

On 31 October 1980,D. pulex was present in 64% of 115 animals examined. It is interesting to note that, despite such abundance,D. pulex has not been reported previously in association withM. complanata (Gotto, i960). On 28 November 1980, the incidence of ‘infection’ was still high (62 %) but thereafter declined (14 January 1981: 35 %; 10 February 1981: 34 %; 11 March 1981: 42 %) to a value of 13 % by 8 April 1981, around which it stayed until the end of sampling (3 June 1981).

Sagartiogeton laceratus Carlgren. was observed in 1979 in large numbers (11–20 m) in shallow water (5 m below chart datum Sullom Voe) at Whaal Firth, Yell, Shetland, at a site named Stany Pund. It was recorded at a nearby site, Poita, at a lower density (1–2 m) in deeper water (6–8 m below CD.), and was also recorded as ‘common’ at the shallow head of the firth.

Very large numbers of Aurelia aurita (L.) were observed within the sheltered, shallow arm of the firth, within the upper few metres of water.

Each year since 1979 the same occurrence has been noted, and in the summer of 1980 the predation of Sagartiogeton upon Aurelia was observed and photographed on several occasions. These observations were repeated in 1982.

Sagartiogeton laceratus is found attached to shell fragments in silt, the column inclined towards the current. During ingestion the tentacles shorten, and the mouth, disc, and column, distend many times their normal dimensions. (Estimated to be 400% for the column, disc.)

It seems likely that the occurrence of both species in sufficiently large numbers to make predation noteworthy is due to the position and depth of Whaal Firth. It forms a north facing ‘trap’ on the eastern side of Yell sound through which ebb and flood tides move rapidly. The total length of Whaal Firth is approximately 7 km of which 4 km are relatively exposed, and 3 km sheltered.

In 1955, Kerkut recorded the spontaneous activities of a tube foot of Asterias rubens L. Such activity consisted of cyclical protraction and retraction phases, one complete cycle lasting on average some 6·5 min (S.D. 2·5). The duration of the protraction phase was on average 4·3 min. It is reasonable to assume that under the conditions of this experiment a similar level of hydrostatic pressure was attained as was found by Binyon (1964), namely 30 cm water. There then followed a fairly rapid retraction of the podium and a quiescent period of some 2·2 min duration. An individual podium would thus execute some 9·2 cycles/h.

Conflicting opinions exist as to the method of feeding employed by Leptopentacta elongata (Dub. and Kor). Orton (1914) and Mortensen (1927) suggested that it may be a deposit feeder. Chia & Buchanan (1969) noted that post larval specimens up to 1 year old deposit fed. Fankboner (1981), in a short study, concluded that the adults were cryptic deposit feeders. Hunt (1925) and Fish (1967), however, observed what they concluded was suspension feeding. All the above observations were the result of aquarium studies. Fish (1967) also demonstrated that Leptopentacta hibernated between October and April or May both in the field and in aquarium. He also observed that hibernation could be induced in the summer months by reducing water temperature to 8°C but that winter hibernation could not be curtailed by raising the water temperature.

Obsevations made by one of us (B.P.) while diving indicate that Leptopentacta suspension feeds. This behaviour has been observed on several occasions from several sites around the Irish coastline with specimens then being caught and their identity confirmed. While feeding the tentacles are held clear of the substrate to intercept suspended material.

These observations clearly do not support the description of Leptopentacta solely as a cryptic deposit feeder, indeed the evidence for the adults deposit feeding at all is weak. Orton (1914) and Mortensen were only speculating on Leptopentacta being a deposit feeder based on the observation that specimens in aquaria spent much of their time completely buried. Hibernation, as shown by Fish (1967), is a possible explanation for this.

Poly dor a ciliata (Johnston) is a polychaete which lives in a U-shaped tube and is found in a wide variety of substrata, ranging from soft clays or muds to hard calcareous materials. Cliona celata Grant is a siliceous sponge which inhabits tunnels and galleries it has etched out in limestone, coral or molluscan shells. The effects of these two species of boring organisms on their hosts have been studied mainly for commercially important molluscs. Hannerz (1956) is the only record of P. ciliata infectingPatella vulgata L, and there is no previous record of anyCliona spp., infections.

An opportunity was taken to carry out the artificial fertilization and incubation at different temperatures of eggs of the bogue, Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758) during a cruise on R.V. 'Cirolana' organized by the Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft. Adult fish for use in the experiment were obtained by bottom trawling in 165 m depth of water at 43° 44' N02° 44' W on 10 May 1980 between 0449 and 0549 h GMT. The bottom temperature at the trawling position was estimated to be ~ 11 · 8 °C, based on measurements made at nearby stations. Eggs and milt from several males and females were added to a container of sea waterheld at approximately 11 °C; after 1 h the fertilized eggs were transferred as four separate subsamples each of approximately too eggs to clean sea water in the incubation beakers. Thesebeakers were then gradually acclimatized over a period of 2 h to the incubation temperatures of80, 131, 182 and 22·8°C.

At all temperatures mortality was high during early embryonic development. At 228 °C all eggs were dead after 9J h of incubation at which time some of these specimens had formed a blastoderm cap, but with no sign of overgrowth of the yolk. In a few of the eggs held at 80 °C development proceeded normally until immediately before closure of the blastopore (~ 106 h after ferilization) when irregular vacuoles were seen in the area around the blastopore and development was disrupted; after 112 h of incubation all eggs held at 80 °C were dead.

The amphipod family Acanthonotozomatidae was represented hitherto in British waters by the generaIphimedia Rathke (includingPanoploea Thompson) andOdius Lilljeborg; Acanthonotozoma Boeck being unrecorded (Lincoln, 1979).

Material referable toAcanthonotozoma serratum (O. Fabricuius, 1780) is here reported from the East coast of Scotland. Two specimens (1 juvenile,ca. 7 mm long and 1 immature female, broken in half, estimated length 85 mm) were taken by Dr R. Earll by diving (his sample no. CR2, St. 4/3) from amongst tubes occupied by the amphipodEricthonius rubricornis Stimpson attached to boulders amongst coarse sand, depth 345 m, at Coldingham Bay, St Abbs, Berwickshire, Scotland (55° 53' 30": 2° 5' 36") on 17 August 1982. Dr Earll kindly made over his amphipod material to me for identification.

Just (1978) has reviewed the genusAcanthonotozoma and has commented on the variability of both morphology and coloration ofA. serratum from Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, Russian Kara Sea, N. Norway and the Skagerrak. The Scottish material has Norwegian rather than Greenlandic characteristics. Thus the dorsal tooth on peraeonite 5 is lacking, giving the dorsum a 4-dentate appearance. Coxal plate 3 is bluntly tapered distally. Coxal plate 4 is squarish and coxal plate 7 has the posterodistal corner unproduced. The posterodistal projections of the third epimeral plate are short with a wide angle between them. The basal articles of peraeopods 57­ have a square, less sharply produced posterodistal corner.

Mouthparts and anterior peraeopoda have been dissected from the right side of the female and mounted on three slides in polyvinyl-lactophenol. No significant differences are apparent in mouthpart morphology compared with fig. 4 in Just (1978).

In July and August 1982 a bloom of Gyrodinium aureolum spread from its normal mid-Channel position to inshore waters off Plymouth. During some particularly calm weather in July and early August the presence of this bloom coincided with aberrant behaviour and some mortality of the bottom fauna. From previous observations in 1978 (Forster, 1979) it seemed probable thatthese damaging effects were related to the presence of the bloom. As soon as possible diving was carried out on positions where mortalities of affected species had been reported, or where previous observations had been made so that any changes could be easily recognized.

The survey of Balanus balanoides (L.) for metacercarial cysts of Maritrema arenaria Hadley and Castle, 1940, on the east coast of Northern Ireland by Irwin & Irwin (1980) prompted us to carry out a similar survey in the north-east of England. The site we selected was a rocky shore at Whitburn, Sunderland (Grid Ref. NZ411 613) from which six separate batches of 100 barnacles, B. balanoides, were examined. The results were as in Table 1.

Between April 1978 and July 1983 a total of 211 cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis L., was collected in the waters off Plymouth as part of a study of the cuttlebones (Denton & Gilpin-Brown, 1961). The following data were recorded for each specimen: sex, mantle length, the wet weights of the whole animal and the cuttlebone, and for females the weights of the eggs and nidamental glands. The presence of spermatophores in males was also noted. There are rather few records for the winter months; although Sepia were caught at this time they were often required for other studies. It is hoped to obtain more specimens for these months in later years.

A list of larval fish species sampled during an ecological study of the gadoid larvae in the east of the Shetland Islands area in 1978 (6–21 May) and 1979 (9–30 May) is given in Table 1· 14157 fish larvae were caught in 1978 (in 154 oblique hauls with the High Speed Loch Ewe Net, an unencased sampler with a net of 0·250 mm mesh) and 13 769 larvae in 1979 (in 93 hauls), from which 13632 and 12440 larvae were identified and measured in these 2 years respectively. Most unidentified specimens were damaged. Larval fish taxonomy is given according to Russell (1976). The description of the sampling instrument and the working procedure at sea can be found elsewhere (Economou, 1983).

The Gadidae family dominated all others accounting for more than 85% of the total, the three most abundant species being Norway pout(Trisopterus esmarkii (Nilsson)), haddock(Melanogrammus aeglefinus (L.)) and whiting (Merlangius merlangus (L.)).

Whiting appeared under three pigmentation patterns, the normal one, another with very weak pigment and a third having the dorsal side of the body very strongly pigmented, sometimes with a gap free of pigment along the dorsal contour. The characters of the last two forms correspond somewhat with the descriptions of the whiting larvae from the southern North Sea and the Loch Etive (Russell, 1976). Norway pout displayed the typical form of melanophores but few specimens presented a pattern of fine but intense spots. There was some evidence that a few of the larvae identified as Norway pout at the end of May 1979 were actually Trisopterus minutus larvae.