Margaret Coles, leader of our
rockpooling afternoon at New Brighton beach on 22nd June, was delighted to find
that Smelt have returned to breed in the Mersey.
While checking out the pools
prior to the event, she found many of the silvery juvenile fish in the pools under the groynes on New Brighton beach. Sand accretion
across the beach has now lifted levels to where wave action makes pools under
the concrete groynes, which retain water at low tide. Smelt breed in tide-pools
and, once grown to full size, used to be caught as food.
Other residents of the
pools include sea anemones, starfish, dog whelks and brown shrimps, with
honeycomb worms making miniature reefs nearby. However, catching the smelt
proved the most popular activity with the younger members of the party! At the
low end of the shore, smelt were going down a runnel into the sea, but some
getting stuck part-way. A tern and a seagull were taking advantage of this for
an easy meal - until we arrived. The boys helped as many smelt as possible into
the sea - obviously baby fish scored over birds for that afternoon!
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