Common lobster.
Divers exploring beneath the waves off Durham’s Heritage Coast have uncovered a great environmental success story.
Once one of the most polluted stretches of coastline in the UK, a Seasearch survey reveals it is now host to a colourful variety of marine life.
Divers encountered a varied undersea landscape of kelp forests, sandy sea bed and sponge-encrusted rocky reefs reclaimed by nature from the county’s industrial past that saw millions of tone of coal rubble dumped off the coast.
The Seasearch divers have recorded numerous species including lobsters, many types of crab, squat lobsters, northern prawns, little cuttle, sea slugs, urchins, common starfish, brittle stars and colourful anemones. Various types of fish have also taken up residence including plaice, bib and the ferocious sounding but harmless long-spined sea-scorpions.
