Uk Diving » Lyme Regis June 07

It was a pleasure to return to Lyme Regis and it was our first full blown Seasearch surveying trip too. We dived from John Walker's boat Miss Pattie and enjoyed four quite varied dives. The group's mission was to assess the impact of scallop dredging on the area's wildlife, particularly the pink sea fans. As you can see we found the sea fans and plenty of damage but lots of interesting stuff too. See the Seasearch news page for more details - http://www.seasearch.co.uk/news.htm

The reefs in Dorset were pretty well covered with life,...
These pure white anemones are not 'Elegant' if you look...
A Polycera faeroensis nudibranch looking for lunch
Another Polycera faeroensis, still searching for a meal
You can see the distinctive broad dark bands on this...
Eyelash worms - Myxicola infundibulum - look rather like...
Sponge spider crabs - Inachus spp. - seem very common...
Their decoration is great as camouflage until they cross...
Lightbulb tunicates - Clavelina lepadiformis - are...
They seem to be a favourite food of the candy striped...
Gooseberry sea squirts - Dendrodoa grossularia - are only...
The usual fanworms are Bispira volutacornis, which occur...
This Crimora papillata nudibranch is feeding the the...
Organ pipe worms - Serpula vermicularis - are smaller...
Pink sea fan, Eunicella verrucosa poking out of the reef....
Another pink sea fan, Eunicella verrucosa, luckily...
An area of dredged reef. The sea fan is still intact, but...
Sea fans are habitats in themselves; this one has been...
A closer look at the sea fan community. The egg case of...
Another sea fan freeloader, the common squid - Loligo...
If you look hard, you can see a pair of pink sea fan...
So clear, you can make out the shot as Dawn ascends the...
A dogfish, now called the small spotted catshark(!) -...
Its rare to be able to see the pupil of a dogfish eye.
Potato crisp bryozoan (formerly known as ross coral) -...
Double spiral fanworm - Bispira voluticornis.
A close up of the organ pipe worm - Serpula vermicularis.
Horsehoe worms (not really worms at all) - Phoronis...
We're not quite sure which nudibranch this is, the...
Sweet little sandy creeplets - Epizoanthus couchii
A closer view of the Horseshoe worms - Phoronis hippocrepia
The vivid Sunset Cup-coral - Leptopsammia pruvoti - grows...
They weren't feeding very vigorously but were still...
There were some nosey Tompot Blennies - Parablennius...
This one is resting on some pumice bryzoan
Here's a gas mantle or hot waterbottle sea squirt -...
You can never have too many Tompot blennies
Here's a nice Crimora papillata nudibranch
The pleading eyes of an edible crab - Cancer pagarus
A clump of Spiral fanworms - Bispira voluticornis
A side on view of the 3 complete whorls of this large...
And a goodbye blenny, just for luck

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