Shore NI Learning Platform | Ulster Wildlife

Rockpool (c) Adam Davidson — Rockpool with beadlet anemone (c) Adam Davidson

Species spotlight

Find out more about some of the rocky shore wildlife you will encounter while taking part in Shore NI

Dahlia anemone

Dahlia Anemone spotlight

Limpets

Limpets - species spotlight

Starfish and brittle stars

Starfish and brittle star spotlight

Sea anemones

Sea anemone spotlight

A infographic showing an elegant anemone, plumose anemone, and daisy anemone

Topshells

Topshell spotlight

Sea urchins

Sea urchins spotlight

Shorefish

Shorefish spotlight

A infographic showing a rock goby, montagu's sea snail and worm pipefish and their defining characteristics

Periwinkles

ShoreNI species spotlight

Seaweed

A infographic showing thongweed, sea oak and wireweed and their defining characteristics

A infographic showing sugar kelp, dabberlocks and wakame and their defining characteristics

A infographic showing oarweed, forest kelp and furbellows and their defining characteristics

A infographic showing dulse, irish moss and false irish moss and their defining characteristics

A infographic showing common coralline weed, maerl, and pink plate weed and their defining characteristics

Barnacles

A infographic showing a Northern Acorn barnacle, montagu's stellate barnacle and beaked barnacle and their defining characteristics

Lichens

A infographic showing a yellow foliose lichen, sea ivory and black seashore lichen and their defining characteristics

Whelks

Species spotlight showing some types of whelks and their recognisable characteristics

Invasive species

A infographic showing a pacific oyster, carpet sea squirt and slipper limpet and their defining characteristics

Sea squirts

A infographic showing a star tunicate, sea vase and lightbulb sea squirt and their defining characteristics

Tube worms

A infographic showing a keeled worm, sinistral spiral worm and honeycomb worm and their defining characteristics

Priority Species

A infographic showing a native oyster and horse mussel

A infographic showing knotted wrack and variegated scallop

Infographic showing a rugose squat lobster and a greater marbled chiton

Climate Indicators

A infographic showing some climate indicators found on rocky shores in Northern Ireland

Hydroids

A infographic showing sea beard, garland hydroid and podded hydroid and their defining characteristics

Bryozoans

A infographic showing a kelp lace bryozoan, hairy sea mat and hornwrack and their defining characteristics

Sea Slugs

An infographic showing a sea lemon, grey sea slug and Boston facelina nudibranch

An infographic showing a velvet dorid, barnacle nudibranch and spotted sea hare and their defining characteristics

Corals

A infographic showing a devonshire cup coral, a carnation coral, and a weymouth carpet coral

Eggs

A infographic showing sea lemon eggs, dog whelk eggs, and spotted seahare eggs

Habitat Highlights

Rocky Shores

Habitat Highlight - Rocky Shore part 1

Habitat Highlight Rocky Shore part 2

Crevices

An infographic showing the ecology of crevices on rocky shores

Kelp Forests

An infographic showing the ecology of kelp forests

Rockpools

Infographic showing species commonly found in rockpools

Amongst Seaweeds

Infographic showing species commonly found attached to, or underneath, seaweeds

Surge Gullies

A description of the species found in surge gullies, including blue mussels, coralline seaweed, and lots of anemones!

The Splash Zone

An infographic showing commonly found species on the splash zone

Under Boulders

An infographic showing commonly found species under boulders on the shore

Interesting reads

Here are some recent studies which we think will be of interest. Links to the full articles are below

Deep-sea sharks that glow in the dark

Luminous shark species

Read more

Cephalopod passes human cognitive test

Cephalopod passing cognitive test

Read more

Even More Rocky Shore Resources!

Seaweed fun fact

Did you know that a third of the world's cetaceans have been spotted around the coast of Ireland?

A infographic showing commonly confused animal species

A infographic showing the differences between commonly confused species

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Upcoming Events

These events are for ShoreNI volunteers.

ShoreNI volunteers have attended an online training session to learn how to survey rocky shore wildlife. Beginner trainings can be found on the general Ulster Wildlife events page.

Surveys are weather dependent and will be confirmed via email closer to the survey date.

A rock covered in yellow and white lichen

Ardglass - 13th August

Join us for a ShoreNI survey at North Beach, Ardglass

Snakelocks anemone under UV light

Night Time ShoreNI Survey

Bangor - 2nd September

Join us for a night time ShoreNI survey in Bangor!