Upper shore

LR

Littoral rock (and other hard substrata)

Barren bedrock with no species recorded mainly occurring at MHWS and areas of elevated bedrock.

Upper shore

LR.FLR.Lic.YG 

Yellow and grey lichens on supralittoral rock

Biotope present at the Skateraw Landfall as a scattered fringe and dominated by the yellow lichen X. parietina.

Upper shore

LR.FLR.Lic.Ver

Verrucaria maura on littoral rock fringe

Biotope recorded as a scattered fringe on upper shore bedrock, boulders and cobbles and dominated by V. maura although a significant amount of rock was uncolonised. Enteromorpha intestinalis and L. saxatilis also present.

Upper shore

LS.LSa.St.Tal

Talitrids on the upper shore and strand-line.

Biotope recorded at Stateraw Beach with talitrid amphipods occurring super abundantly under the decomposing seaweeds of the drift line.

Upper shore

LR.FLR.Eph.Ent

Enteromorpha spp. on freshwater influenced and or unstable upper eulittoral rock

Biotope recorded on unstable rock in the upper shore and in areas influences by fresh water from the Dry Burn and was dominated by E. intestinalis. Other species presented included sparse patches of U. lactuca and occasional individuals of L. saxatilis.

Upper shore

LR.FLR.Rkp.G

Green seaweeds (Enteromorpha spp. and Cladophora spp.) in shallow upper shore rockpools

Biotope recorded in rockpools within the LR.FLR.Eph.Ent biotope and had a similar species assemblage.

Upper shore

LR.LLR.FVS.PelVS

Pelvetia canaliculata on sheltered variable salinity littoral fringe rock

Biotope recorded in occasional patches within the LR.LLR.F.Fspi.X biotope where P. canaliculata was dominant on its landward fringe. This biotope contained the same associate species as Fspi.X (see below).

Upper shore

LR.LLR.F.Fspi.X

Fucus spiralis on full salinity upper eulittoral mixed substrata

Biotope dominated by F. spiralis with abundant V. maura. Other species occurring occasionally were E. intestinalis, S. balanoides, P. vulgata, L. saxatilis and L. littorea. Species assemblage was the same as that associated with the LR.LLR.F.Fspi.B biotope.

Upper shore

LR.LLR.F.Fspi.B

Fucus spiralis on exposed to moderately exposed upper eulittoral rock

Biotope dominated by F. spiralis with abundant V. maura. Other species occurring occasionally were E. intestinalis, S. balanoides, P. vulgata, L. saxatilis and L. littorea. Species assemblage was the same as that associated with the LR.LLR.F.Fspi.X biotope.

Mid shore

LR.LLR.F.Fves

Fucus vesiculosus on moderately exposed to sheltered mid eulittoral rock

Biotope characterised by a continuous canopy of F. vesiculosus and sparse occurences of S. balanoides. Species including C. pagurus and C. maenas were occasionally present under rocks. This community was differentiated into two variants which largely had the same species assemblages: LR.LLR.F.Fves.X and LR.LLR.F.Fves.FS (see below).

Mid shore

LR.LLR.F.Fves.FS

Fucus vesiculosus on full salinity moderately exposed to sheltered mid eulittoral rock

Biotope occurred on boulders and bedrock with a species assemblage as described above for LR.LLR.F.Fves.

Mid shore

LR.HLR.MusB.Sem.Sem

Semibalanus balanoides, Patella vulgata and Littorina spp. on exposed to moderately exposed or sheltered vertical eulittoral rock

Biotope occurred on bedrock and boulders and was dominated by S. balanoides which was present in super abundant numbers. Species recorded occasionally included P. vulgata, L. littorea, L. obtusata, N. lapillus and V. maura. Distributions of algae such as F. vesiculosus, P. purpurea and E. intestinalis were sparse within this biotope.

Mid shore

LR.MLR.BF.FvesB 

Fucus vesiculosus and barnacle mosaics on moderately exposed mid eulittoral rock

Biotope recorded predominantly on mixed rocky sediments dominated by boulders and also on bedrock. Species assemblage dominated by F. vesiculosus and S. balanoides. Ascophyllum nodosum was occasionally present with V. lanosa attached. The red seaweeds M. stellatus and C. officinalis were occasionally present along with fauna including P. vulgata, L. littorea, L. obtusata, C. maenas and A. equina. Juvenile M. edulis were rarely observed.

Mid shore

LR.HLR.FR.Coff.Coff

Corallina officinalis and Mastocarpus stellatus on exposed to moderately exposed lower eulittoral rock

Biotope dominated by C. officinalis and coralline crusts with abundant V. fucoides. Other algae commonly recorded included C. rupestris and F. vesiculosus whilst L. difformis and M. stellatus were only occasionally recorded. Variable densities of L. littorea were also recorded. This biotope contained numerous shallow coralline rock pools with flat rocks under which a diverse assemblage of species occurred.

Mid shore

LR.LLR.F.Fves.X

Fucus vesiculosus on mid eulittoral mixed substrata

Biotope occurred on substrate with a higher proportion of cobbles and pebbles with a species assemblage as described above for LR.LLR.F.Fves.

Mid shore

LR.FLR.Rkp.Cor.Cor

Corallina officinalis and coralline crusts in shallow eulittoral Rockpools

Biotope occurred from the middle of the shore up to the F. spiralis zone within the numerous rockpools present at this landfall. Coralline crusts and C. officinalis were dominant with C. rupestris and H. siliquosa frequently recorded. Other seaweeds including M. stellatus, C. crispus, Ceramium sp. and U. lactuca occurred occasionally with a scattering of F. vesiculosus and P. vulgata. A diverse range of invertebrate animals occurred including L. littorea, C. pagurus, G. cineraria, S. spirorbis, P. bernhardus and C. maenas. Also present in very low abundances were U. felina, S. unicornis, L. nivea, D. grossularia and D. pseudoargus.

Lower shore

LR.MLR.BF.Fser

Fucus serratus on moderately exposed lower eulittoral rock

Biotope commonly recorded on the lower shore containing a canopy of F. serratus predominantly on bedrock with frequent green seaweeds underneath such as C. rupestris. Invertebrates recorded included S. balanoides, P. vulgata and N. lapillus, particularly in rock crevices. Two variants of this biotope (Fser.R and Fser.Bo) were fairly widespread (see below).

Lower shore

LR.MLR.BF.Fser.R

Fucus serratus and red seaweeds on moderately exposed lower eulittoral rock.

Biotope characterised by common occurrences of the red seaweeds M. stellatus, O. pinnatifida, C. officinalis and Ceramium sp. and occasional green seaweeds such as C. rupestris and E. intestinalis. Invertebrates including P. vulgata and S. balanoides were frequently recorded with occasional specimens of L. littorea, N. lapillus and C. maenas.

Lower shore

LR.MLR.BF.Fser.Bo

Fucus serratus and under-boulder fauna on exposed to moderately exposed lower eulittoral boulders

Species rich biotope with super abundant F. serratus and occasionally F. vesiculosus. Red seaweeds included P. palmata, M. stellatus, O. pinnatifida, L. articulata, O. dentata, C. officinalis and calcareous encrusters. The faunal assemblage was also species rich with abundant N. puber, P. platycheles, C. maenas, C. pagurus and G. squamifera under most rocks. Other faunal species occasionally recorded included H. sanguinolenta, A. rubens, O. fragilis, P. miliaris and A. equina. Polychaetes were occasionally observed (e.g. E. viridis and P. triqueter) and gastropod molluscs (e.g. P. vulgata, N. lapillus, L. littoralis and G. cineraria) were present above and under boulders. The sea slug D. pseudoargus occurred infrequently under stones. The sponge H. panicea occurred abundantly while epiphytic colonies of the ascidian B. schlosseri and the bryozoans E. pilosa and M. membranacea were present both on fronds of F. serratus and on rocks.

Lower shore

LR.MIR.KR.Ldig

Laminaria digitata on moderately exposed sublittoral fringe rock

Biotope recorded as a narrow fringe on vertical surfaces where rock platforms dropped off either into lower shore intertidal L. digitata boulder fields or directly into the sea. Biotope characterised by a similar suite of species as recorded in association with the LR.MLR.BF.Fser.Bo biotope (see above).

Lower shore

LR.MIR.KR.Ldig.Bo

Laminaria digitata and under-boulder fauna on sublittoral fringe boulders

Biotope characterised by a similar suite of species as recorded in association with the LR.MLR.BF.Fser.Bo biotope (see above) but present lower down the shore and with the kelp L. digitata as the dominant species. Additional species only recorded in this biotope included the seaweeds S. latissima, L. hyperborea, D. carnosa and the gastropod T. monacha.

Lower shore

LR.FLR.Rkp.FK

Fucoids and kelp in deep eulittoral rockpools

Biotope recorded within the rockpools present throughout the lower and lower mid shore zones. Fucus serratus and L. digitata dominated the deeper waters of the pools while C. officinalis and coralline crusts dominated the shallow fringes. Also frequently recorded were H. siliquosa, M. stellatus, C. crispus, P. palmata, A. plicata and Ceramium sp. with scattered N. lapillus, P. vulgata and A. equina. Shrimps Palaemon sp. occurred occasionally.

Lower shore

LR.FLR.Rkp.SwSed

Seaweeds in sediment-floored eulittoral rockpools

Biotope recorded in deep pools although depth and suspended sediments hampered visibility.

Lower shore

LS.LSa.MuSa.MacAre

Limecola (Macoma) balthica and Arenicola marina in littoral muddy sand

Biotope recorded in areas of fine muddy sand with M. balthica and M. tenuis were rarely observed in dig over sampling. Oligochaete worms and H. diversicolor, S. armiger and L. conchilega were recorded in low densities. Patches of this biotope were also recorded in large rockpools containing a layer of sediment at the base.

Lower shore

LS.LSa.MuSa.Lan

Lanice conchilega in littoral sand

Biotope occurred predominantly in clean sand, mainly along the mid and lower shores in areas of dense populations of L. conchilega. Polychaetes E. lumbricoides, N. hombergii, S. armiger and A. marina were often present.

Lower shore

LS.LSa.FiSa.Po

Polychaetes in littoral fine sand

Biotope was characterised by a similar suite of species as recorded within the LS.LSa.MuSa.MacAre and LS.LSa.MuSa.Lan biotopes with occasional occurrences of the polychaetes N. hombergii, P. fulgens, H. diversicolor and S. armiger. Arenicola marina was rarely present.