goldenshellback's Journal

1 Field Guide to the Marine Fishes of Wales
2 Seasearch Guide to Bryozoans and Hydroids of Britain and Ireland
3 Sea Anemones and Corals of Britain and Ireland
4 Irelands Biodiversity Intertidal Seaweeds (Swatch)
5 Seasearch Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (2nd)
6 Irelands Biodiversity Identification Guide to Irelands Grasses
7 Practical Guide to the Marine Animals of Northeastern North America
8 Seaseach Divers Guide to Marine Life of Britain and Ireland
9 Field Guide to Sharks, Rays & Chimaeras of Europe and the Mediterranean
10 Seaweed Collectors Handbook
11 Shell Guide to Birds of Britain and Ireland
12 Ctenostome Bryozoans #33
13 Some British Pidoloporidae (Bryozoa: Cheilostomatida)
14 British Ascophoran Bryozoans #14
15 Cyclostome Bryozoans #34
16 Living Seashells Molluscs of the English Channel and Atlantic Coasts
17 Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe (2nd)
18 Euope and Mediterranean Marine Fish Indentification Guide (4th)
19 Glosasary of terms
20 Macroalgae Fact Sheets (2nd)
21 Spring Tides - Exploring the Marine Life on the Isle of Man
22 Sea & Cliff Birds of Ireland
23 Irish Kelp Forests (Laminaria hyperborea)
24 Wildflowers of the Maharees
25 Nudibranchs of Britain, Ireland and Northwest Europe
26 Cheilostomatuous Bryozoa
27 Key to the Marine and Freshwater Fishes of Britain and Ireland
28 Macroalgae Fact Sheets
29 Seasearch Inshore Fishes of Britain and Ireland
30 Seasearch Seasquirts and Sponges of Britain and Ireland
31 Ireland's Biodiversity Marine Bivalve Shells (Swatch)
32 Ireland's Seashore - A field guide
33 MARINE BIVALVE SHELLS OF THE BRITISH ISLES
34 Marine Life with Sketches, Keys and excellent Images
35 Sea Slugs

Supporting multiple volunteers from multiple communities can be challenging.
Most volunteers have no Marine species knowledge and others have PhDs.

So we began by encouraging everyone to take loads of photos.
Each volunteer their own folder on Google OneDrive and could view all other observations.

We encouraged beginners to ID the common seaweeds and simply rename their images.
This proved difficult. But more challenging IDs were very difficult to coordinate across all volunteers!

The more experience members are "well-connected" and simply asked for help from their colleagues.
Less experienced members struggled to tell the plants from animals!

iNaturalist may provide a solution to our problems:

• anyone can drag & drop a photo and an ID is suggested for beginners.
• more advanced observers can submit multiple photos supporting correct IDs.
• comments can be added by other team members and guides/keys can be suggested;
• comments can include specific details which are required for a "Research Grade" observation.

This allows additional photos as needed. Or at least to encourage volunteers to consider taking more detailed photos on their next visit to the site.

iNaturalist experts also provide excellent suggested IDs.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/163269546 was an early submission and I had incorrectly suggested an ID as a "Common Prawn". An expert suggested "Rockpool Prawn".
This allows one to use an appropriate guide to learn the differences between the two species, in this case the "shape and number of dorsal teeth of the rostrum".

My personal goal is to develop a small area of expertise on one or two species and to support Irish observations.

But for "Greater Skellig Coast Hope Spot" in Kerry, it would be fantastic to see a growing community of Marine Citizen Science volunteers contributing observations of the habitats along our 912km of coastlines!

If there is anyone with experience of working effectively with team observations to develop Marine observation capacity then we'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

Just completed my sixth and final module of an excellent course on Marine Citizen Science!

My six fish photos were a mixed lot:

The Common Stingray sighting over the past 2 years have not resulted in a "research grade" classification as the underside of a ray has yet to be photographed. Working on that challenge but have wonderful footage of crabs being corralled underneath their "wings", footage on lovely days at the beach with rays gliding gracefully underneath iSUPs, and one 2 minute clip of 14 separate rays in very murky waters!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165932787

Bernie was very kind to point out the "15-spined stickleback" when she visited Fenit for a snorkel!!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190375583

Taking underwater photos is often challenging and sunny days and in shallow water is our best chance of getting research grade photos, however, it is becoming obvious that good lighting is critical to get sharp images. But understanding what is required for correct IDs is equally important. Lin Baldrock's new book proved very helpful on that front!!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190375132

That said, it is not always easy to get Dragonets to stay still and display their fins at the same time.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190375583

Little Cuttlefish are frequently seen in other parts of Tralee Bay but this was my only encounter with one in Fenit. It was a delight to watch it swimming and then burying itself in the course sand.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190375327

Cod is frequently mentioned in relationship to seagrass meadows and I was delighted that iNaturalist suggested a single ID for the "Murray Cod" as my best guess after searching through many Fish books was "little green fish". As it appeared to be a juvenile, it was difficult to ID. This is the second of this species spotted with the first observation in Cuan Eamonn's seagrass bed.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190376349

Many thanks to the Dave Wall for this amazing course and I hope many others will enjoy getting started with their observations throughout Ireland and especially in Kerry!
Get a few friends to complete the course with you!!
The course is free: https://learn.biodiversityireland.ie/courses/marinebiodiversity