Biodiversity & Conservation

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Extremely sheltered mid shore mixed substrata, usually subject to variable salinity due to freshwater runoff, may support beds of the free-living Ascophyllum nodosum ecad mackaii. Cobbles and other hard substrata are often characterized by the normal form of Ascophyllum nodosum and other fucoids such as Fucus serratus and Fucus vesiculosus. The loose mats of A. nodosum ecad mackaii provide a cryptic and humid habitat for mobile species such as gammarids, the shore crab Carcinus maenas, littorinid molluscs (especially Littorina littorea) and eels Anguilla anguilla. Semibalanus balanoides and Mytilus edulis are commonly attached to pebbles and cobbles on the sediment, while the infauna may contain Arenicola marina, Lanice conchilega and other polychaetes. (Information taken from the Marine Biotope Classification for Britain and Ireland, Version 97.06: Connor et al., 1997a, b).