The Wildlife Trusts are celebrating these seaside superheroes around the British Isles:

Scotland

Native Oyster on the west coast of Scotland: Superpower – water cleaning

Oysters are small on their own but powerful together, cleaning huge volumes of water, locking carbon on the seabed and creating underwater cities for other creatures. Once common around the UK, over harvesting, disease and pollution have reduced their populations around the Coast. 

Beadlet anemone in rock pools around the UK: Superpower – harpoon-like tentacles

Most commonly spotted as dark red blobs in rockpools, beadlet anemones use a sucker to keep them stuck to rocks. When the tide flows in the thick, short tentacles of the beadlet anemone extend to catch passing prey like crabs, shrimp and small fish with a harpoon-like sting. These are then retracted at low tide and when disturbed.

North of England

Common cockles on sandy and muddy shores: Superpower – water filtration

Found on sandy and muddy shores between the high tide and low tide, cockles are filter feeders and altogether can filter large quantities of water, removing pollutants. Cockles are also a favourite food of oyster catchers, crabs and humans.

Grayling butterflies on sand dunes of Lancashire: Superpower – camouflage

Hidden in plain sight, the Grayling Butterfly is well camouflaged with brown, white and grey patterned wings. They rest with their wings closed so they do not cast a shadow and cannot be seen by their predators. Please don’t explore sand dunes, other than via board walks, as much of the wildlife cannot be seen and is at risk of being disturbed while breeding.

Phosphorescent Sea Pen on muddy shores of Cumbria: Superpower – glows blue-green

The Phosphorescent Sea Pen glows a bluey-green colour when disturbed. The light is emitted by the polyps and pulses in waves across the sea pen. This is a kind of defence mechanism, aiming to startle and ward off predators.

Wales

Bottle nose dolphin off West Coast of North Wales: Superpower – echolocation

One of the most common dolphin species around UK coast, which use echolocation to track their prey. There are resident populations in Moray Firth and Cardigan Bay, which has a dolphin webcam. Their biggest threat is entanglement in marine litter and ghost fishing gear, so get involved in a beach clean or remove any rope, strapping or net from the beach. 

Curled Octopus in the coastal waters of North Wales: Superpower – invisibility

Although the curled octopus is predominately red it really is the master of disguise and can become almost invisible by matching the colour of its background.

East of England

Salt marsh and sea grass on the coast of Essex: Superpower - carbon storage

Salt marsh and seagrass are vital in our combat against climate change: a hectare may store two tonnes of CO2 a year. Supporting diverse ecosystems, these habitats are spawning and nursery sites for fish and provide food and shelter for tiny invertebrates, marine mammals and waterfowl. Support Essex Wildlife Trust with its salt marsh and sea grass projects.

Three spined stickleback in fresh waters of Norfolk: Superpower – body armour

This small fish has no scales but protects itself from predators with spikes on its back and armoured plates on its body.

Southwest England

Seahorses in seagrass off the coast of Dorset: Superpower – males become pregnant 

Found on shallow coastal waters with seagrass and seaweeds. Seahorses are poor swimmers so they stay put by holding on to seagrass with their tails. A unique adaptation for seahorses, is that males become pregnant and giving birth to their young. It is illegal in the UK to take a sea horse from the sea or cause destruction of their habitat.

Sea slug on southwest coast of Devon, Cornwall or Scilly: Superpower – solar power

Found sucking seaweed on rocky shores. Depending on the seaweed its eating, the slug can be green, red or brown. Ultimate form of solar power, sea slugs can recycle chloroplasts from the algae and become photosynthetic. 

Southeast England

Common piddock in chalk reefs off the coast of Kent: Superpower – ocean acidification indicator

Indicator of ocean acidification: as this species has a calcareous skeleton, a lack of it in previously populated areas could indicate increasing ocean acidification.

Thresher Shark off the coast of the Isle of Wight: Superpower – whip-like tail

The thresher shark spends most of its time in deep waters of the open sea, rarely straying into coastal areas.  But they come to an area East of the Isle of Wight in summer months to breed. With their huge whip-like tail, they strike shoals of fish, stunning several to make them easier to catch. The biggest threat to Thresher shark is overfishing and bycatch. 

Limpets on rocky coastlines around the UK: Superpower – strongest teeth

The common limpet has the strongest 'teeth' on the planet, known as a radula, which it uses to scrape off algae from rocks to eat. The limpet also has a powerful ‘foot’ muscle which creates a strong seal to the rock while it moves. Please don’t remove limpets from rocks because this damages that muscle and limpets will no longer be able to attach to the rocks.