In this deep-dive discovery pack, you will learn about:
- The characteristics of seagrass beds
- Their superpowers
- Threats they are facing and how we can help them!
Your portal to Scotland’s underwater world
Welcome to the Scotland Ocean Observatory, where you can meet extraordinary marine life and explore the spectacular habitats found beneath the waves, in particular the Berwickshire Marine Protected Area (MPA), Scotland’s first voluntary marine reserve.
Scotland has a diverse marine ecosystem and is home to many marine species. From cold-water coral reefs to maerl beds, the region supports a staggering diversity of marine life rarely found elsewhere in the UK. Berwickshire’s water represents the uniqueness of Scotland’s marine habitats. Magnificent kelp forests, dazzling anemones and the elusive wolffish share these waters with pods of bottlenose dolphins, giant minke whales and thousands of breeding grey seals.
Take a dive into Scotland’s watery world and learn how to observe and monitor our changing ocean.
Through this underwater video archive, you can swim with marine life, examine historical shipwrecks and explore the breath-taking marine habitats found within Scotland and the Berwickshire MPA from a scientists-eye view.
More coming soon…
Wolffish
Berwickshire Marine Reserve
18m
13.5
Anarhichas lupus
Wolffish earn their name from their two fang-like front teeth. They are usually found in deep waters, but here in Berwickshire, wolffish can be found at relatively shallow depths, which is rare. To help them survive the cold water, their blood contains a natural antifreeze, giving them a blue-ish colour.
Hagfish
Berwickshire and Northumberland Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
55m
6.0
Myxine glutinosa
These slimy scavengers live in deep, cold waters all around the UK. Hagfish have long, smooth bodies and a star-shaped mouth, used for feeding on dead and rotting fish on the muddy seafloor.
Ballan Wrasse / Long-Spined Scorpion Fish
Berwickshire Marine Reserve, Scotland
10m
9.0
Labrus bergylta / Taurulus bubalis
These large wrasse grow up to 60cm long and have mottled green, brown and orange markings. Although not traditionally eaten in the UK, Ballan Wrasse have begun to be fished in recent years for export to Asia and use in salmon farming as cleaner fish.
Juvenile of unknown fish species
Berwickshire MPA, Scotland
5m
11.0
Unidentified
Juvenile fish in Scottish waters are very difficult to tell apart – these darting juveniles could be a mixture of baby cod, pollack, gobies and other species!
Fulmar
Fulmarus glacialis
St Abbs Head cliffs
They are members of the petrel family, also known as ‘tube-bills’. These grey and white birds have unique flight patterns, using air currents to glide and soar above the waves. The chicks produce a smelly, oily liquid from their stomachs that they squirt at predators as a defence mechanism.
Razorbill
Alca torda
St Abbs Head cliffs
Razorbills have distinctive black and white plumage and a characteristic sharp bill, used for catching fish underwater. They live most of their lives in the sea but come onto coastal cliffs to nest, often alongside their cousins, puffins and guillemots.
Grey Seal
Halichoerus grypus
Berwickshire MPA
6m
8.0
Over the winter, grey seals gather on beaches in the north of Berwickshire to give birth to their pups, which can be spotted from far away because of their fluffy white fur. These pups feed from their mother almost constantly and can gain up to 2kg in weight every day!
Guillemot
Uria aalge
St Abbs Head
3m
12.0
The rocky cliffs around St Abbs Head make excellent nesting sites for breeding seabirds. Among them are the Guillemots, who spend most of their life out at sea. In spring, they return to the cliffs to breed and lay their eggs. These penguin look-alkies are supreme swimmers, spending much of their time hunting underwater to find food for their chicks.
Berwickshire’s coastline
Gull Rock, St Abbs
8m
11.15 am
The rocks along Berwickshire’s coastline extend underwater creating caves, crevices and tunnels. Together, this creates a “rocky reef” habitat which provides sanctuary for marine animals including soft coral, barnacles and anemones. Above the water, these rocks provide homes for breeding seabirds such as herring gulls, black headed gulls and common gulls.
Professional scuba divers
St Abbs
Most of the underwater footage captured for the Berwickshire Ocean Observatory was captured by our fantastic team of professional scuba divers. They descend to the depths wearing a full dry suit and carrying a range of camera and safety equipment. Would you give scuba diving a try?
St Abbs
St Abbs Head, Berwickshire, Scotland
100m
6.45 am
St Abbs is a small fishing village on the Berwickshire coast. The village has their own independent lifeboat (the Thomas Tunnock) and a state-of-the-art Marine research Station where scientists’ work focuses on conservation, coastal ecosystems and training marine scientists.
St Abbs
St Abbs Head, Berwickshire, Scotland
80m
7am
St Abbs is home to a productive crab and lobster pot fishery, as well as providing some of the best diving and recreational fishing opportunities in the UK.
Kelp
Berwickshire MPA
2-10m
10-14.0
Laminaria digitata and Laminaria hyperborea
Kelp, oarweed, tangle or cuvie
Kelps are tall brown seaweeds that grow all around Scotland’s coasts, forming dense forests that shelter marine life. In Scotland, kelps forests are a ‘priority marine feature’ which means that the government must work to protect them.
Shallow rocky crevice
Berwickshire Coastline
5m
10.0
In shallow areas, where sunlight is bright and plentiful, a diversity of seaweeds can photosynthesise and grow. This provides food and shelter for many marine creatures, including starfish and sea urchins. This rocky substrate is also perfect for soft corals known as Dead Man’s Fingers.
Mixed seaweeds
Berwickshire Marine Reserve
7m
9.0
In the shallows of Berwickshire, seaweeds provide homes for many marine creatures including crustaceans and juvenile fish. Scientists are currently researching the role seaweeds play in absorbing carbon and helping us tackle climate change.
Rocky Boulders
Berwickshire Marine Reserve
21m
8.0
The hard surface of these rocky boulders provides the perfect place for colourful forests of anemones and soft corals to grow. These corals, known as Dead Man’s Fingers, stick out from the boulders like hands. These habitats also help protect Berwickshire’s coastline, by slowing down water movement and reducing coastal erosion.
European Lobster
Homarus gammarus
Fast Castle Head
21m
6.0
Lobsters are “decapods” which means “ten feet” in Latin. Their ten legs work in pairs, each with a different and important function. The lobsters’ front pair of legs are adapted into large pincers, a crusher and a pincher, which help them to devour their prey.
Owen Flowers
Velvet Swimming Crab or Devil Crab
Necora puber
Berwickshire Coast
9m
13.0
These crabs live up to their name. Their flat, paddle-like legs allow them to swim quickly through the water and short soft hairs on their shell look just like velvet when underwater.
Olive Squat Lobster / Common Hermit Crabs
Galathea squamifera / Pagurus bernhardus
Berwickshire Marine Reserve
1m
12.0
Squat lobsters are closely related to hermit crabs. To defend their territory, they often wedge their body into a protected, rocky crevice and wave around their large claws.
Cross Jelly / Lions’ Mane
Staurophora mertensi / Cyanea capillata
Berwickshire Coastline
2m
10.0
The cross jelly is quite rare in the UK and is usually found further north. But sometimes, cold currents bring the cross jelly down to Berwickshire in large numbers. Lions’ mane jellyfish have beautiful flowing tentacles, but watch out, they have a nasty sting!
The Dove
Around 1911
43m
7.0
Shipwrecks provide lots of nooks and crannies for marine life to live in. Whether they are hiding from predators or seeking prey, these species benefit from ships that sink to the seafloor. Some people refer to shipwrecks as “artificial reefs” because of the life they attract.
Bib, urchins, starfish, dead man’s fingers, barnacles.. and more!
HMT Fortuna
1941, by a German Aircraft
Steam Trawler
St Abbs Head, Berwickshire, Scotland
55m
9.0
The Dove
Around 1911
Possibly a 19th Century Whaling ship
Around 15 miles north of St Abbs head
45m
7.0
Horse mussel beds
Modiolus modiolus
Horse mussels live in sea lochs, bays, and along the open coasts of Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, and the west coast of Scotland.
5-70m
Horse mussel beds change the seabed by adding hard surfaces and hiding places for many creatures. They boost local biodiversity and can even provide nursery areas for valuable shellfish like queen scallops. Many horse mussels live for more than 25 years and some survive for 50 years. Young mussels are a favourite meal for crabs and starfish, but once more than 6cm long they are relatively safe from these predators.
Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios
Maerl beds
Phymatolithon calcareum, Lithothamnion glaciale, Lithothamnion corallioides
Common along Scotland’s west coast, the Outer Hebrides, and fast-flowing areas in Orkney and Shetland. Scotland holds about 30% of all maerl beds in north-west Europe
25-38m
Maerl beds are extremely slow growing and extensive beds may be 1000s of years old. Most of the maerl beds in the UK are off western Scotland, which has more records than any other European country. They provide a rich habitat for many species, including burrowing bivalves, urchins, worms, sea cucumbers, and anemones.
Photo: Grace Bailey/ Video: Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios
Northern sea fan and sponge communities
The northern sea fan (Swiftia pallida) and cup corals (Caryophyllia smithii) species
Sea fans live around Scotland’s west coast and some parts of Ireland and Norway. Deep sponges are found near Scotland and Ireland too.
The northern sea fans are predominately found between depths of 20-50m, and the sponges at 35-120m
Northern sea fans and sponges grow best on rocky surfaces – on bedrock, boulders and cobbles. In shallow water, sea fans and cup corals are common, while deeper areas have fewer sea fans and more sponges with cup corals. Other animals like soft corals, starfish, and squat lobsters also live there, using crevices for shelter.
Photo: Luke Helmer/ Video: Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios
Seagrass beds
Common eelgrass (Zostera marina) and dwarf eelgrass (Zostera noltei) and tasselweed (Ruppia maritima) beds.
Mostly found on the west coast and around Orkney and Shetland.
From intertidal down to 10m
These beds stabilise the sediment, preventing erosion and protecting coastal ecosystems. The beds also create productive habitats that provide shelter and food for a wide variety of plants and animals (including other species of conservation importance and commercially-valued fish species).
Photo: Matt Jarvis/ Video: Doug Anderson
Serpulid aggregations
Serpulid worm (Serpula vermicularis)
Found in a few places in Scotland like Loch Creran and Loch Teacuis.
6-10m
Serpulid aggregations are dense clumps of white chalky tubes, each one containing a Serpula vermicularis worm. When feeding, the worms extend red, white or orange feathery tentacles. The organ-pipe or serpulid worm is a beautiful marine tubeworm with a showy crown of feathery tentacles. Bright red, pink and orange, these contrast with its hard white tube. Individual organ-pipe worms occur almost worldwide, but only rarely grow together as ‘reefs’.
Photo: Doug Anderson/ Video: Tim Askew
Flame shell beds
Limaria hians
Flame shell beds are found on Scotland’s west coast, including large areas in Loch Alsh, Loch Sunart, and Scapa Flow.
5-25m
Flame shells build nests that join to form large carpets across the sea floor, sometimes covering several hectares. These carpets stabilise the seabed and provide a home for many species, from tiny seaweeds and sponges to fish like cod and saithe, creating a rich and busy underwater community.
Photo: Iain Dixon/ Video: Tim Askew
Blue mussel beds
Mytilus Edulis
Found in scattered locations around the Scottish coast, particularly at the head of sea lochs and in the mouths of estuaries and firths.
Around 10m
At high densities, blue mussels attach to each other and the seabed using strong byssus threads, forming complex, multi-layered beds that stabilize surrounding sediments like silt and shell debris. These beds provide habitat for a biodiverse community such as barnacles, fucoid algae, shore crabs, and lugworms. Mussel beds also contribute to nutrient cycling and are an important food source for wildfowl, seabirds, and humans
Participate in the Edinburgh shorelines citizen science project to help protect blue mussels!
Tim Askew
The deep-dive discovery packs below will introduce you to a range of species, habitats, survey methods and data collection techniques. Have you got what it takes to be an ocean explorer?
Follow the steps below to find out:
02
Select one of the deep-dive discovery packs below
03
Read the fact file and watch the video
04
Record your findings in the answer sheet!
In this deep-dive discovery pack, you will learn about:
In this deep-dive discovery pack, you will learn about:
Scotland’s seas are home to beautiful diverse habitats, from kelp forests to flame shell reefs and deep-sea coral gardens. They have nourished and supported coastal communities for generations. Comprising 10 per cent of Europe’s coastline, Scotland’s marine environment is not only vast, but vital, with some of the richest blue carbon habitats in the world.
But this life-sustaining ecosystem is under threat. Overfishing and insufficient levels of marine protection have severely depleted Scotland’s once-rich waters. Many fish populations have declined drastically, with destructive fishing practices prevalent in most marine protected areas and inshore waters, undermining conservation efforts and impacting Scotland’s coastal communities.
Blue Marine has been working with local partners, communities and fishers in Scotland for more than a decade to help protect and sustainably manage the marine environment. Through a combination of top-down policy intervention, public campaigning, bottom-up community engagement and collaboration, Blue Marine aims to secure effective protection of Scotland’s Marine Protected Areas and protect Scotland’s most important marine habitats, species and ecosystems.
This Ocean Observatory aims to complement our Scotland projects by encouraging curiosity, increasing knowledge and inspiring the next generation to care for our oceans.
Visit our website for more information.
Blue Marine Foundation is a UK based charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health by addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems. We are committed to creating marine reserves, restoring vital habitats and establishing models of sustainable fishing. Our mission is to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 and ensure that the remainder is effectively managed.
Visit our website for more information.
Click the button below to discover the underwater water world of Jersey in the British Isles. How does this Ocean Observatory compare to Scotland’s?
