Publication - Consultation paper

CONSULTATION ON PRIORITY MARINE FEATURES

Published: 25 July 2013
Topic: Marine and fisheries
ISBN: 9781782567813

Consultation document on Priority Marine Features

Annex A

Recommended list of Priority Marine Features in Scotland's seas

Table 1 Seabed habitats

Priority Marine Feature ( PMF)	Component biotopes / species (biotope / common name)	Component biotopes / species (biotope code / species name)	Scottish marine area
Blue mussel beds	Mytilus edulis beds on littoral sediments	LS.LBR.LMus.Myt	Territorial waters
	Mytilus edulis and Fabricia sabella in littoral mixed sediment	LS.LSa.St.MytFab	Territorial waters
	Mytilus edulis beds on sublittoral sediment	SS.SBR.SMus.MytSS	Territorial waters
	Mytilus edulis beds on reduced salinity infralittoral rock	IR.LIR.IFaVS.MytRS	Territorial waters
Burrowed mud	Seapens and burrowing megafauna in circalittoral fine mud	SS.SMu.CFiMu.SpnMeg	Both
	Burrowing megafauna and Maxmuelleria lankesteri in circalittoral mud	SS.SMu.CFiMu.MegMax	Both
	Tall seapen	Funiculina quadrangularis	Both
	Fireworks anemone	Pachycerianthus multiplicatus	Both
	Mud burrowing amphipod	Maera loveni	Both
Carbonate mound communities	Carbonate mound communities	No code	Offshore waters
Cold-water coral reefs	Coral reefs	SS.SBR.Crl	Both
Coral gardens	Coral gardens	No code	Offshore waters
Deep sea sponge aggregations	Deep sea sponge aggregations	No code	Offshore waters
Flame shell beds	Limaria hians beds in tide-swept sublittoral muddy mixed sediment	SS.SMx.IMx.Lim	Territorial waters
Horse mussel beds	Modiolus modiolus beds with hydroids and red seaweeds on tide-swept circalittoral mixed substrata	SS.SBR.SMus.ModT	Territorial waters
	Modiolus modiolus beds on open coast circalittoral mixed sediment	SS.SBR.SMus.ModMx	Territorial waters
	Modiolus modiolus beds with fine hydroids and large solitary ascidians on very sheltered circalittoral mixed substrata	SS.SBR.SMus.ModHAs	Territorial waters
Horse mussel beds cont.	Modiolus modiolus beds with Chlamys varia, sponges, hydroids and bryozoans on slightly tide-swept very sheltered circalittoral mixed substrata	SS.SBR.SMus.ModCvar	Territorial waters
Inshore deep mud with burrowing heart urchins	Brissopsis lyrifera and Amphiura chiajei in circalittoral mud	SS.SMu.CFiMu.BlyrAchi	Territorial waters
Intertidal mudflats	Littoral mud	LS.LMu	Territorial waters
Kelp and seaweed communities on sublittoral sediment	Kelp and seaweed communities on sublittoral sediment	SS.SMp.KSwSS	Territorial waters
Low or variable salinity habitats	Faunal communities on variable or reduced salinity infralittoral rock	IR.LIR.IFaVS	Territorial waters
	Kelp in variable or reduced salinity	IR.LIR.KVS	Territorial waters
	Submerged fucoids, green or red seaweeds (low salinity infralittoral rock)	IR.LIR.Lag	Territorial waters
	Sublittoral mud in low or reduced salinity (lagoons)	SS.SMu.SMuLS	Territorial waters
	Bird's nest stonewort	Tolypella nidifica	Territorial waters
	Baltic stonewort	Chara baltica	Territorial waters
	Foxtail stonewort	Lamprothamnium papulosum	Territorial waters
	Small brackish water snail	Hydrobia acuta neglecta	Territorial waters
Maerl beds	Maerl beds	SS.SMp.Mrl	Territorial waters
Maerl or coarse shell gravel with burrowing sea cucumbers	Neopentadactyla mixta in circalittoral shell gravel or coarse sand	SS.SCS.CCS.Nmix	Territorial waters
Native oysters	Ostrea edulis beds on shallow sublittoral muddy mixed sediment	SS.SMx.IMx.Ost	Territorial waters
Native oysters	Native oyster	Ostrea edulis	Territorial waters
Northern sea fan and sponge communities	Caryophyllia smithii and Swiftia pallida on circalittoral rock	CR.MCR.EcCr.CarSwi	Territorial waters
	Mixed turf of hydroids and large ascidians with Swiftia pallida and Caryophyllia smithii on weakly tide-swept circalittoral rock	CR.HCR.XFa.SwiLgAs	Territorial waters
	Deep sponge communities (circalittoral)	CR.HCR.DpSp	Both
	Northern sea fan	Swiftia pallida	Both
	Ampharete falcata turf with Parvicardium ovale on cohesive muddy sediment near margins of deep stratified seas	SS.SMu.OMu.AfalPova	Offshore waters
	Foraminiferans and Thyasira sp. in deep circalittoral fine mud	SS.SMu.OMu.ForThy	Offshore waters
	Levinsenia gracilis and Heteromastus filifirmis in offshore circalittoral mud and sandy mud	SS.SMu.OMu.LevHet	Offshore waters
	Paramphinome jeffreysii, Thyasira spp. and Amphiura filiformis in offshore circalittoral sandy mud	SS.SMu.OMu.PjefThyAfil	Offshore waters
	Myrtea spinifera and polychaetes in offshore circalittoral sandy mud	SS.SMu.OMu.MyrPo	Offshore waters
Offshore subtidal sands and gravels	Glycera lapidum, Thyasira spp. and Amythasides macroglossus in offshore gravelly sand	SS.SCS.OCS.GlapThyAmy	Offshore waters
Offshore subtidal sands and gravels	Hesionura elongata and Protodorvillea kefersteini in offshore coarse sand	SS.SCS.OCS.HeloPkef	Offshore waters
	Echinocyamus pusillus, Ophelia borealis and Abra prismatica in circalittoral fine sand	SS.SSa.CFiSa.EpusOborApri	Offshore waters
	Abra prismatica, Bathyporeia elegans and polychaetes in circalittoral fine sand	SS.SSa.CFiSa.ApriBatPo	Offshore waters
	Maldanid polychaetes and Eudorellopsis deformis in offshore circalittoral sand or muddy sand	SS.SSa.OSa.MalEdef	Offshore waters
Offshore subtidal sands and gravels cont.	Owenia fusiformis and Amphiura filiformis in offshore circalittoral sand or muddy sand	SS.SSa.OSa.OfusAfil	Offshore waters
Seagrass beds	Zostera noltii beds in littoral muddy sand	LS.LMp.LSgr.Znol	Territorial waters
	Zostera marina/ angustifolia beds on lower shore or infralittoral clean or muddy sand	SS.SMp.SSgr.Zmar	Territorial waters
	Ruppia maritima in reduced salinity infralittoral muddy sand	SS.SMp.SSgr.Rup	Territorial waters
Sea loch egg wrack beds	Ascophyllum nodosum ecad mackaii beds on extremely sheltered mid eulittoral mixed substrata	LR.LLR.FVS.Ascmac	Territorial waters
Seamount communities	Seamount communities	No code	Offshore waters
Serpulid aggregations	Serpula vermicularis reefs on very sheltered circalittoral muddy sand	SS.SBR.PoR.Ser	Territorial waters
Submarine structures made by leaking gases	Submarine structures made by leaking gases	No code	Both
Tide-swept algal communities	Fucoids in tide-swept conditions	LR.HLR.FT	Territorial waters
	Halidrys siliquosa and mixed kelps on tide-swept infralittoral rock with coarse sediment	IR.HIR.KSed.XKHal	Territorial waters
	Kelp and seaweed communities in tide-swept sheltered conditions	IR.MIR.KT	Territorial waters
	Laminaria hyperborea on tide-swept infralittoral mixed substrata	IR.MIR.KR.LhypTX	Territorial waters
Tide-swept coarse sands with burrowing bivalves	Moerella spp. with venerid bivalves in infralittoral gravelly sand	SS.SCS.ICS.MoeVen	Territorial waters

Table 2 Low or limited mobility species

Priority Marine Feature ( PMF)	Species name	Taxon group	Scottish marine area
Burrowing sea anemone	Arachnanthus sarsi	Sea anemones, sea fans and seapens	Territorial waters
Pink sea fingers	Alcyonium hibernicum	Sea anemones, sea fans and seapens	Territorial waters
White cluster anemone	Parazoanthus anguicomus	Sea anemones, sea fans and seapens	Territorial waters
Northern feather star	Leptometra celtica	Starfish and feather stars	Both
Fan mussel	Atrina fragilis	Snails, clams, mussels and oysters	Both
Heart cockle	Glossus humanus	Snails, clams, mussels and oysters	Territorial waters
Ocean quahog	Arctica islandica	Snails, clams, mussels and oysters	Both

Table 3 Mobile species

Priority Marine Feature ( PMF)	Species name	Taxon group	Scottish marine area
European spiny lobster	Palinurus elephas	Lobsters and sand hoppers	Territorial waters
Eel (marine part of life cycle)	Anguilla anguilla	Bony fish (catadromous)	Territorial waters
Atlantic salmon (marine part of life cycle)	Salmo salar	Bony fish (anadromous)	Territorial waters
European river lamprey (marine part of life cycle)	Lampetra fluviatilis	Bony fish (anadromous)	Territorial waters
Sea lamprey (marine part of life cycle)	Petromyzon marinus	Bony fish (anadromous)	Territorial waters
Sea trout (marine part of life cycle)	Salmo trutta	Bony fish (anadromous)	Territorial waters
Sparling (marine part of life cycle)	Osmerus eperlanus	Bony fish (anadromous)	Territorial waters
Anglerfish	Lophius piscatorius	Bony fish	Both
Atlantic halibut	Hippoglossus hippoglossus	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Atlantic herring	Clupea harengus	Bony fish	Both
Atlantic mackerel	Scomber scombrus	Bony fish	Both
Black scabbardfish	Aphanopus carbo	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Blue ling	Molva dypterygia	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Blue whiting	Micromesistius poutassou	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Cod	Gadus morhua	Bony fish	Both
Greenland halibut	Reinhardtius hippoglossoides	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Horse mackerel	Trachurus trachurus	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Ling	Molva molva	Bony fish	Both
Norway pout	Trisopterus esmarkii	Bony fish	Both
Orange roughy	Hoplostethus atlanticus	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Round-nose grenadier	Coryphaenoides rupestris	Bony fish	Offshore waters
Saithe	Pollachius virens	Bony fish	Both
Sandeels	Ammodytes marinus & Ammodytes tobianus	Bony fish	Both (although only A. marinus occurs offshore)
Sand goby	Pomatoschistus minutus	Bony fish	Territorial waters
Whiting	Merlangius merlangus	Bony fish	Both
Basking shark	Cetorhinus maximus	Sharks, skates and rays	Both
Common skate	. cf. intermedia	Sharks, skates and rays	Both
Leafscale gulper shark	Centrophorus squamosus	Sharks, skates and rays	Offshore waters
Porbeagle shark	Lamna nasus	Sharks, skates and rays	Offshore waters
Portuguese dogfish	Centroscymnus coelolepis	Sharks, skates and rays	Offshore waters
Sandy ray	Leucoraja circularis	Sharks, skates and rays	Offshore waters
Spiny dogfish	Squalas acanthias	Sharks, skates and rays	Both
Atlantic white-sided dolphin	Lagenorhynchus acutus	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Offshore waters
Bottlenose dolphin	Tursiops truncatus	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Fin whale	Balaenoptera physalus	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Offshore waters
Harbour porpoise	Phocoena phocoena	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Killer whale	Orcinus orca	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Long-finned pilot whale	Globicephela melas	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Offshore waters
Minke whale	Balaenoptera acutorostrata	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Northern bottlenose whale	Hyperoodon ampullatus	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Offshore waters
Risso's dolphin	Grampus griseus	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Short-beaked common dolphin	Delphinus delphis	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Sowerby's beaked whale	Mesoplodon bidens	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Offshore waters
Sperm whale	Physeter macrocephalus	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Offshore waters
White-beaked dolphin	Lagenorhynchus albirostris	Whales, dolphins and porpoises	Both
Harbour / common seal	Phoca vitulina	Seals	Both
Grey seal	Halichoerus grypus	Seals	Both
Otter	Lutra lutra	Otter	Territorial waters

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David Mallon

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Annex A

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