I reckoned the images to be of hyperiid amphipods, confirmed by David Conway at
the Marine Biological Association who also drew my attention to an article in
Nature of a mass stranding on the NE coast in June 1966:





Nature 215, 100 (01 July 1967); doi:10.1038/215100a0





Swarming of Hyperiid Amphipods



J. S. GRAY & R. A. MCHARDY



Wellcome Marine Laboratory, Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire.
Oceanographic Laboratory, 78 Craighall Road, Edinburgh.


FOLLOWING a period of moderately strong westerly wind, on June 26, 1966, the
beaches of Robin Hood's Bay, Filey, and Sandsend, Yorkshire (extending for about
40 km of coastline), were turned white by a covering of vast numbers of hyperiid
amphipods.

I do not have ready access to the journal at the moment but there might be more
on reasons and species identification in it.

Keith Hiscock


----Original Message----
From: quippyuk@...
Date: 21/05/2009 0:09
To: <Glaucus@...>
Subj: Re: [Glaucus] Amphipods on northeast beaches









Here are two photos of the amphipods still being washed up at Whitby in their
thousands..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37651649@N06/3549357621/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37651649@N06/3550162662/in/photostream/

Chris W

--- On Wed, 20/5/09, Andy Horton <Glaucus@...> wrote:

From: Andy Horton <Glaucus@...>
Subject: [Glaucus] Amphipods on northeast beaches
To: "GLAUCUS" <Glaucus@...>
Date: Wednesday, 20 May, 2009, 12:28 PM

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --
From: "Peter Tinsley" <PTinsley@dorsetwild life.co.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 10:50 AM
To: <Glaucus@hotmail. com>
Subject: amphipods on northeast beaches

> Hi Andy
>
> I tried to send this to the yahoo group, but I can't seem to get it to
> work. In response to a message posted on 21 April about a "sandhopper
> holocaust". I was at Redcar beach on 16 May and there were millions of
> amphipods washing up all along the beach - also at Saltburn, 5 miles
> away. According to the locals, this has been going on for weeks. At
> first I thought there'd been a mass sandhopper die-off, but some of the
> ones I scooped up from the strandline were still alive and they weren't
> sandhoppers. They were pelagic amphipods, sort of krill-equivalents
> and, judging by the number washing up there must be billions of them in
> the North Sea. That suggests there will be something feeding on them,
> so I wondered if there had been any interesting fish landings recently
> and even if there was any connection between this event and the Rays
> bream that were turning up here over the winter.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Peter Tinsley
>
>
> KestrelCam is live!
> http://www.dorsetwi ldlife.co. uk/kestrelcam. htmlfrom our Lorton Meadows
> nature reserve. See the nesting season unfold.
> http://www.facebook .com/people/ Dorset-Wildlife- Trust/1177906660
> Become a http://www.facebook .com/people/ Dorset-Wildlife- Trust/1177906660
> of Dorset Wildlife Trust
> Registered Charity No. 200222
>

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