Down to 15m

As you descend deeper, and the light fades animal life spreads out and covers the reefs. Where currents are strong, the reefs are carpeted in soft corals, called dead man�s fingers, which can be orange or pure white and stand about 20 cm in high in hand-like clumps. In some places there are large �forests� of plumose anemones, with each individual animal looking like a miniature tree.

There is a lot of wildlife that lives in between the corals and anemones, like the eel-like butterfish, the northern prawn and the velvet swimming crab. Often the huge thirteen-armed common sunstar can be seen pushing its way purposefully through them in hunt of its prey � other starfish.

Cracks and crevices in the reef form the ideal hiding place for the common octopus, edible crabs and lobsters and the creature that all divers want to see, the wolf fish. Mature fish can be in excess of a metre long and as thick as your arm, with a huge head and permanently projecting front teeth. Despite its formidable appearance, it is quite shy and invariably disappears into its hole if approached. The teeth are designed for crushing the crabs and sea urchins on which it feeds.

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Gliding along the cliff walls are pollack and saithe, both members of the cod family and sometimes ling and small cod may be spotted too. The male lumpsucker can be also found here. Up to about 30cms in length, this bulbous, fleshy-lipped fish is one of the more colourful and bizarre inhabitants of the North Sea. In the Spring, they move inshore to breed and the male adopts its breeding colours - anything from pink with black dots to yellow with red fins and lips. Once the female has secured her egg mass into a suitable crevice, the male fertilises them. He then clamps himself to the rock next to the eggs with a large sucker on his underside and stands guard duty for several weeks, fending off marauding crabs and starfish until the eggs hatch.

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Here are some video clips of some of the life to be found on the rocky reefs

Dead Man's Fingers	Common Lobster
Plumose Anemone	Wolf Fish