Marine Biodiversity Data Portal - NI

Stackamore, Rathlin Island.

[Site list for year 1987]

Survey number: 555 Event number: 19870526/23 Date: 1987-05-26 GPS: 55.30500,-6.18800. Depth: 3.5 to 0.2 m. [ View map ]

Site Description: Situated toward the west end of a large bay on the north side of Rathlin Island. The location was platforms of irregular pillow larva interspersed with basalt boulder areas. The platform and boulders are eroded by the 'exposed' wave action upon them. On the former, this forms a highly irregular topography giving rise to gullies containing large deep rock pools and crevices and overhangs. The boulders tended to have a more sheltered sub habitat beneath and between them being richer in algae. Shore backing is a shingle area, grass slopes and high cliff behind. Transect A: platforms with smooth undulating top. Much of the intertidal regions occurs on the vertical sides and the tops within the splash. Large deep rock pools rich in flora occur in gullies carved into the platforms by wave action. The upper shore pools tend to be dominated by Ulva (originally recorded as Enteromorpha) and Cladophora whereas the lower shore pools have a diverse flora and especially marked by encrusting corallines. Transect B: Large and medium boulders with a patchy fucoid zonation on and between the boulders. Wet areas occurred between boulders.