Marine Biodiversity Data Portal - NI

Ballymacormick Point, Belfast Lough.

[Site list for year 1984]

Survey number: 555 Event number: 19841030/21 Date: 1984-10-30 GPS: 54.67900,-5.63100. Depth: 3.5 to 0.2 m. [ View map ]

Site Description: The site holds a wide diversity of both hard and soft substrates. The habitats range from moderately exposed rocky shore to sheltered salt marsh and mud flats. The outer shore of the transect consists of a sharp rock ridge platform with many pools. Behind the platform is a series of smaller ridges. the spaces between the ridges are filled with sediment. Coarse shelly sand gives way to angular stones and gravel on the mid shore, and pebbly mud on the upper shore, which in turn gives way to saltmarsh. The angular stones and gravel between the mid shore ridges are covered by small and medium sized boulders. Silt cover increases from the lower shore to the upper shore. Notable sub habitats include: a deep sheltered pool in a couloir on the outer rock ridges which contained Asterina gibbosa, Anemonia sulcata and Echinus esculentus; a wide shallow pool which holds Cereus pedunculatus; and a freshwater inflow in the mid tide region which supports the growth of Fucus ceranoides. The site is rich in algae for two reasons: firstly, the relatively undisturbed nature of the upper shore permits the development of a flora with a large number of green and blue-green algae; secondly, the large number of rock pools on the outer rock ridges support the growth of many species of red and brown algae.

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