Ni marine life

My favourite examples of marine life in NI

Spiny lobster

Able to grow up to 60 cm in length they are crustaceans with two small hook-like claws they live in crevices and caves among rocks in shallow waters down to 70 m, they have spines covering their shells,have long antenna and they come out at night to feed, they are considered scavengers and will feed on whatever they find such as crabs, worms, starfish and carrion. They were fished nearly to extinction in the past but now with the designation of marine conservation areas they have begun to recover in recent years and are classified as a priority species under the UK post 2010 biodiversity framework, classified as vulnerable on the IUCN red list.

The common octopus

Growing up to a length of 60-100 cm a common octopus is considered as a molusic, more specifically cephalopods and invertebrates as they have no spine, they have an average lifespan of 1-2 years, they have 8 arms attached to their heads with a double row of suckers, they display a soft-bag like body and are known to squeeze into small spaces to avoid predators as long as it is not smaller than its beak the only hard part of the octopus body and are capable of changing colours depending on what the situation requires they commonly prefer to feed on crabs and prefer to go out at night and hunt with the special venom they produce from glands in the mouth, similar to our saliva, used to incapacitate their prey. They are widespread yet the status of the population is yet to be known.

A common octopus is capable of many things to avoid predators the species are considered exceptionally fast and intelligent creatures, in fact the are considered the most intelligent of all invertebrates, they are also capable of regrowing entire limbs if needed, along with the ability to secrete ink to help disorientate prey and escape predators.