The crossword

ACROSS

8 Turbot or grouper, say (4)

9 Concerned with living systems (10)

10 Small predatory mustelids (6)

11 Hooved mammal in the genus Moschus, native to Asia (4,4)

12 Small, upright-swimming marine creature in the genus Hippocampus (3,5)

14 Rook or jackdaw, perhaps (6) 16 Omnivorous mammal that might be black or grizzly (4)

17 Large 14 Across (5)

18 Undeveloped shoot (4)

19 Modified gland found in squid, cuttlefish and octopus (3-3)

21 Wren-like bird ofNew Zealand (8) 23 Scottish lake, sometimes said to be home to an unknown water creature (4,4) 26 Shelled gastropod (6)

27 Predatory sea fish of the Indo-Pacific (10) 28 Hearing organs (4)

DOWN

1 Small, shingle-nesting seabird withayellow bill, Sternula albifrons (6,4)

2 New World passerine species related to the mockingbirds (8)

3 ___ kestrel, small migratory falcon (6) 4 Limbless, long-bodied invertebrate (4)

5 ___ nuthatch, bird endemic to a Mediterranean island (8)

6 Twitcher, possibly (6)

7 Cold-water marine fish of the family Merlucciidae; often eaten with chips (4) 13 Immature eel (5)

15 Songbird native to SouthAsia (6,4) 17Deciduous US trees, Ulmus thomasii (4,4) 18 Brightly coloured bird ofAsia, Africa and Southern Europe (3-5) 20 Vast desert habitat ofNorth Africa (6) 22 Preservedremnant or impression ofa prehistoric organism (6)

24 Sunfish (4)

25 ___ eel, marine fish, important as food for seabirds (4)

May answers

Across: 1 aquatic warbler, 10 osier, 11 ear covert, 12 wolf eel, 13 deep sea, 14 trout, 16 net-winged, 19 botanists, 20 salpa, 22 tuatara, 25 stooped, 27 in eclipse, 28 tiger, 29 hare’s-tail grass. Down: 2 quillwort, 3 aerie, 4 ice plants, 5 World, 6 rookeries, 7 leeks, 8 Rutland, 9 godwit, 15 tentacles, 17 tusk shell, 18 Galapagos, 19 batfish, 21 alders, 23 A Year, 24 alpha, 26 otter.