Marine Biodiversity Data Portal - NI

Port Moon Bay, North Coast.

[Site list for year 1986]

Survey number: 555 Event number: 19860327/21 Date: 1986-03-27 GPS: 55.24300,-6.46000. Depth: 3.5 to 0.2 m. [ View map ]

Site Description: A supralittoral boulder and cobble beach with a good lichen diversity lies above the transect. The transect site is composed of an upper shore irregular igneous rock outcrop, which houses several fair-sized rock pools, and below this it falls away sharply to an extensive low weathered sandstone platform. The platform is covered by algal mats and houses rock pools with a rich algal diversity. The upper shore rock pools are affected by a freshwater inflow, and there is coarse sand between boulder and rock outcrops below low water. A quick examination of the igneous rock platforms in Port Moon Bay revealed that they had a lower species diversity than the sandstone platforms. This was more marked on the rock surface than in the rock pools. The igneous platforms were patellobarnacle dominated, with patchy Porphyra at high tide level. The only other plants present on the surface were seasonal Ulothrix mats. The igneous platforms were also more exposed than the sandstone.

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