Scotland's seabed

Scotland's complex coastline shapes life beneath the waves. Water depth and exposure to wave action and tidal streams together determine which plants and animals live on and within the seabed.

From exposed vertical walls plunging to the depths in clear waters around Scotland's offshore islands to the sheltered kelp fringed shores of our sealochs, our seas support a wealth of rocky reef habitats. St. Kilda is considered the jewel in the crown of the long list of excellent dive sites around our coast but equally searching for wolf fish in the voluntary marine reserve at St. Abbs or seafan anemones in the Firth of Lorn the abundant and vividly coloured marine life is sure to astound.

The tidal streams that flow through the sounds and channels of Scotland's complex coasts breathe life into the seabed, bringing food and oxygen to nourish abundant sealife. Fine, muddy particles are carried away, leaving seabeds of coarse materials - gravel, pebbles and boulders - and bedrock, sandblasted in places by sand and gravel. From gentle drifts to raging maelstroms, shallow gravel to deep bedrock, tide-swept channels can be hotspots for marine life..

A few special animals and plants profoundly alter the seabed around them, creating places for many other animals and plants to thrive - real hives of activity. Some cement themselves together building complex but fragile structures that rise off the seabed - like the cold-water corals in the deeps off Mingulay in the Outer Hebrides or the fantastic worm reefs of Loch Creran, Argyll. Other animals bind themselves to the sea floor and one another using sticky threads, such as horse mussels and blue (edible) mussels forming a living and lumpy carpet that can completely obscure the seabed. The flame shell, described as the most beautiful British bivalve, opts to hide its vivid orange tentacles from prying eyes (and from predators mouths) by building sausage-shaped nests from these sticky threads and lives completely hidden from view below the seafloor - there can be up to 700 individuals in a square metre below an unsuspecting passing diver!

Deep soft mud is a surprising home for some special marine animals, including the beautiful Norway lobster, the spectacular fireworks anemone, and forests of giant seapens, resembling long white feathers growing out of the mud.

Sealoch cliffs

The inner basins of Scotland's sealochs are a special place for marine life, where the still waters partly mimic conditions in the very deep sea.

Burrowed mud

Deep, soft mud is a surprising home for some special marine animals.

Tideswept channels

The tidal streams that flow through the sounds and channels of Scotland's complex coasts breathe life into the seabed.