Biodiversity & Conservation

Scattered records from Fair Isle, Orkney; the rivers Teign and Dart, Devon; Lundy; the Bishops & Clerks, Skomer and off Dinas Head in Pembrokeshire; Cardigan Bay, Lleyn Peninsula, Bardsey and Menai Straits north Wales; Donlus Bay, south west Ireland; Tiree and Loch Roag, Isle of Lewis in west Scotland and St Kilda.

Temperature range preferences - No information found

Water clarity preferences -

Limiting Nutrients -

Other preferences - Mobile hard substrata and scour

This biotope characterizes hard mobile substrata such as cobbles, pebbles and boulders with sand or gravel in areas of considerable water movement either due to wave action or tidal streams. The biotope occurs in very wave exposed to moderately wave exposed habitats, and/or in areas of strong to very weak tidal streams (Connor et al., 1997a; JNCC, 1999). Scour of the cobbles, pebbles and boulders by sand, or by mobilization of the cobbles and pebbles themselves results in a scour resistant or ephemeral fauna. For example, in the mouth of the Teign, Devon, ECR.PomByC occurs on cobbles sitting on coarse sand and gravel in a scour pit. This biotope is probably very similar to the impoverished Balanus-Pomatoceros assemblage described on hard substrata subject to severe scour or deep submergence by sand or gravel reported by Holme & Wilson (1985) in tide-swept areas of the central English Channel.