Marine Species Archives - Page 2 of 5

Flame shells

The Flame shell is a particularly amazing species, building nests using byssus threads which knit the seabed together forming a reef sometimes many hectares in size. While the bright orange tentacle mollusc is on its own a very incredible wee creature, what it builds becomes home to 100's of other species.

Eurasian oyster catcher

Latin name: Haematopus ostralegus
Global Distribution: breeding grounds western Europe, central Eurasia, Kamchatka, China, and the western coast of Korea
UK Distribution: breeding grounds all UK coasts
Size: Length 40-45cm, …

Common seal

Latin name: Phoca vitulina
Global Distribution: Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Baltic and North Seas
UK Distribution: Scotland, particularly in the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, and England in …

Razor shell

Latin name: Ensis ensis
Global Distribution: Northen Europe.
UK Distribution: Common on all British coasts.
Size: up to 20cm in males and 15cm in females
Diet: Suspension feeder
Habitat: Coarse …

Barnacles

Latin name: Semibalanus balanoides
Global Distribution: Atlantic, Pacific
UK Distribution: All coasts of Britain & Ireland, but sometimes is absent or rare in south-west Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and …

Wireweed

Latin name: Sargassum muticum
Global Distribution: Originally from Japan – now worldwide distribution
UK Distribution: Along the south coast to the Isles of Scilly and along the north Cornish coast …