Marine

Out of sight and out of mind - our marine wildlife has been neglected for many years. The UK's seas are home to thousands of creatures and plants but less than 0.0001% is fully protected.

This is an amazing and little known world with corals, seahorses, whales, dolphins and seals plus many species of fish including one of the world’s largest, the basking shark. Hidden beneath the sea’s surface are wildlife habitats as varied and beautiful as those on land, with undersea cliffs, caves, chasms, mountains, dunes and plains. Colourful reefs, meadows of seagrass, rocky undersea landscapes are home to literally thousands of plants and animals, from tiny geometrical diatoms to giant sperm whales. Our marine ecosystems are also our life support system, helping regulate our climate, providing us with food, and releasing oxygen for us to breath.

Did you know?

The UK’s seas are home to more than 44,000 different kinds of animals and plants.

Wildlife to look out for:

Birds: gannets, shearwaters, petrels, divers, puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, eiders, common scoters, gulls and terns.

Mammals: grey seal, common or harbour seal, harbour porpoise, common dolphin, killer whale, and sperm whale.

Marine plants: green, brown and red seaweeds including bladder wrack, egg wrack, saw wrack, channelled wrack, spiral wrack, oarweed, sea belt, dabberlocks, dulse, gut weed and sea lettuce.

Minibeasts: a huge diversity of species including sea urchins, mussels, barnacles, oysters, common starfish, sun stars, cushion stars, brittle stars, shrimps, several crab species, sea slugs (nudibranchs), fanworms, sea squirts, anemones and lobsters.

Fish: herring, mackerel, pipefish, bib, plaice, cod, skate, sea scorpions, tompot blenny, dogfish, basking shark and other sharks, rays, salmon, sea trout and many more species.