As you descend deeper and the light fades, animal life dominates 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 centimetres 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 such as the eel-like butterfish, the northern prawn and the velvet swimming crab. Often huge thirteen-armed common sunstars can be seen pushing their way purposefully through them in the hunt for their 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 individuals 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. 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.
