Shrimping at Frinton

Above in order:

• A Compass Jellyfish – (Chrysaora hysoscella)

• A Lesser Weever Fish – (Trachinus vipera)

• Common Shrimps (Crangon vulgaris) and Isopods (Idotea baltica)

Every year since I have been old enough to hold a shrimp-net I have been shrimping at Frinton-on-Sea on the Essex coast during our week long family holidays. The flat sandy beach seems, to many, to be devoid of life, but as soon as you start pushing the shrimpnet along, especially at low tide and along the breakwaters, allsorts of marine life can be found and studied. As my buckets and tanks fill up with specimens holiday makers, dog walkers and children seem genuinely surprized that so many things can be found so close to the beach. Each year the variety of species changes with the weather and temperature presumably altering the ebb and flow of breeding cycles, but each year the main players are always present - the shore crabs, the common shrimps and isopods. Some years there are hundreds of hermit crabs, gangs of gar fish on the surface and prawns on the breakwaters but this year none of these. Caught many shrimps as always and as for Frinton rarities, I caught two small straight nosed pipe fish (Syngnathus phlegon), a common starfish (Asterias rubens) and a lesser weaver fish.

The inventory in total over a sunny week is as follows: Common shrimp, isopod, common starfish, sea gooseberry jellyfish, compass jellyfish, common jellyfish, sand hopper, shore crab, swimming crab, weever fish, various fish fry, straight nosed pipe fish, beadlet anemone, common starfish, test of sea potato urchin, shells of edible 'brown' crabs, piece of tail of common lobster and many types of sea-weed and sea-shell - dominated by the 'Buckie' or common whelk.

• Note: We have now been natural history blogging for a year.