Marine Biodiversity Data Portal - NI

Black Neb Inlet, Strangford Lough.

[Site list for year 1986]

Survey number: 555 Event number: 19860908/21 Date: 1986-09-08 GPS: 54.47800,-5.53200. Depth: 3.5 to 0.2 m. [ View map ]

Site Description: A narrow sheltered inlet which has boulders on gravel and a saltmarsh complex with a small freshwater inflow. The inlet may be divided into three sediment types. (1) Lower shore - medium sand on top of clay with some gravel. The occasional boulder with fucoids. (2) Middle shore - gravel and sand on top of stones and shell gravel. Boulders with much Ascophyllum, closely aggregated the flora and fauna appear to be an extension of the rocky shore sites on the adjacent headlands. Upper shore - an extensive area of wet and muddy sand contains many Arenicola, shell gravel with a great deal of littorinid shells occurring beneath the surface. Zostera and Ulva (originally recorded as Enteromorpha) mats occur on the sand surface. The sides of the inlet were boulders with Fucus spiralis and Pelvetia zones. Fish traps form large seawater pools in the upper shore which are rich in brown and green algae and flatfish. On draining, these form a stream which flows over the shore, which is dominated by green and brown algae on pebbles. On some boulders in the lower, middle and upper shores, Mytilus beds form. These make sub habitats for the attachment of algae and fauna such as barnacles. Due to the substrate nature, normal methods were not appropriate. Therefore the following was used. (1) 5 stations marked out at equal vertical heights cover 2/3 shore (2) at each station, one normal sample sieved using 1mm sieve (3) trench dug and sediment sorted for large macrofauna at each station (4) trenches dug off transect to supplement species list. Due to subjectivity and lack of sieving by no means a complete species list was obtained.

No images for site.