The wolf fish (Anarhichas lupus) is a deep water species that normally lives at depths of 60 – 300m. It is found in waters all around the UK at depths greater than 100m, but in the cold waters of the St Abbs and Eyemouth coast it can live as shallow as 12m making it a [...]

Here are some facts about this months species - the sea hare. Did you know? Sea hares are a small slug like invertebrates with two long slender tentacles (rhinophores) on their head which are used as their main sensory organs. These are said to resemble the ears of a hare giving the animals their name. [...]

Spending most of its year out in open water this strange looking fish returns to shallow coastal waters in the spring to spawn. They are fairly easily found, by divers and sometimes rockpoolers, latched hard onto kelp fronds or rock using a suction cup adapted from two fused fins. They have a large, round body [...]

If you look at the literature, jewel anemones are mostly restricted to the south and the west of Britain. However, over the years there have been rumours of these exquisite creatures being seen at St Abbs. We do have a finger of the Gulf Stream that curls over the top of Scotland and brings other [...]

Our largest and most colourful pipefish, with females growing up to 60cm long, and males up to 40cm. As the name suggests, it has a long, smooth snake-like body, roughly round in cross section and tapering into a thin tail with a tiny paddle-shaped fin on the end. The fish is generally orange-brown with transverse [...]

Anyone who dives St Abbs will be very familiar with dead men’s fingers, as you will have seen them carpeting the reefs on almost every dive. But, did you know that they are corals? And are related to jellyfish and sea anemones? All these creatures belong to the phylum Cnidaria (deriving for the Greek for [...]

A fish that all divers have had close encounters with in the kelp forests or around the rocky reefs of the Reserve. A common sighting, and something that most divers probably all take for granted, but why not take a closer look, they are beautiful fish with an intriguing life history. All ballan wrasse start [...]

Often blamed for damaging fishing nets and decimating fish stocks, there’s no doubt that seals are the Marmite of the marine world! But love them or hate them, there’s no denying their underwater grace would make any diver envious. There are 2 species of seals resident in Britain – common seals and grey seals. Of [...]

Kelp (Laminiaria hyperborea) is a large, brown macroalgae, and a familiar sight on most dives within the Marine Reserve. Where it grows in a high density it forms kelp forest, which is one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. The kelp forest provides shelter; nursery grounds; protection and a home for a wide variety [...]

Description: Translucent and bell shaped with four purple/blue near-circle gonad rings (male and female parts!) on top. They are either male or female. Mouth is found underneath with four thick arms containing nematocyst stinging cells used to catch prey such as plankton. They have no skeleton. They move by propulsion; pushing out water. Grow up [...]