A RARE type of leech has been found by a marine biologist at the Ecréhous reef – in what is thought to be the first discovery of its kind in the British Isles.
Société Jersiaise marine biologist Nicolas Jouault spotted the slimy creature by the slip on Maîtr’Île last week.
He posted a picture of it on the platform iNaturalist, where Clinton Duffy, a marine scientist at the new Zealand Department of Conservation identified it as Branchellion torpedinis.
He said: ‘It would appear to be the first British record of the leech, which is found in the Mediterranean or Brittany, and even there, there have not been many reports of them, with 100 in the world in total.’
The leech was found on a marbled electric ray (Torpedo marmorata), which is itself quite rare, according to Mr Jouault.
Mr Jouault said he regularly undertakes snorkel and shore surveys of the reef, with his records then collated by Société Jersiaise’s marine biology section.
He also collects his work on the iNaturalist app, which allows anyone to upload pictures of species they observe and allow other users to identify them.
