Marine Biodiversity Data Portal - NI

Doon Bay, Rathlin Island.

[Site list for year 1985]

Survey number: 555 Event number: 19850505/21 Date: 1985-05-05 GPS: 55.27483,-6.17800. Depth: 3.5 to 0.2 m. [ View map ]

Site Description: The location consists of a large area of sheltered igneous rock ridges forming fingers into the sea giving a highly convoluted shore line. The ridges are formed from irregularly shaped igneous rock, with the occasional clay-like sandstone intrusion in between. The inlets occurring between the ridges are just attached to the sea through rapid-like areas at low water. Within those inlets, the conditions are very sheltered, and provides a rich habitat. Many rock pools occur on the ridges, with the larger ones tending to house sand in the bottom. These, as well as crevices, occur at all levels. Overhangs occur on the lower shore only generally along the sides of the inlet. The upper shore has a backing of grassland, with a small area of saltmarsh. Much drift algae are cast up, and tends to rot giving an unpleasant smell. In some of the pools of the upper shore, the conditions are highly anoxic, possibly due to some chemical pollutant, although these conditions seem localised. The transect site consists of a single finger of igneous rock which has a soft stone intrusion in a depression between two ridges. The site also included part of a sheltered inlet. The zonation was fucoid in type, but the actual zone composition varied slightly depending on the wave exposure. This type of location habitat existed between Doon Point and Rue Point, although the ridges became less irregular towards the latter.