In 2007 the world’s oldest living animal was caught off the coast of Iceland. It was an Iceland cyprine clam, which was discovered by researchers at Bangor University to be over 400 years old.


Unfortunately, this large burrowing bivalve’s ability to live to a ripe old age hasn’t ensured it a secure future – it’s now on the international list of threatened and/or declining species. It’s also included on a new SNH list of the marine habitats and species considered to be of greatest conservation importance in our waters. The aim of the priority marine features (PMF) work is to help target future conservation in Scotland more effectively. The PMF list covers Scottish territorial waters – which go out to 12 nautical miles – and contains 53 species and habitats. It was drawn up by considering factors such as whether the features were under threat or in decline and the role they play in Scotland's seas.


“Iceland cyprine is on this list for several reasons,” explained Katie Gillham, marine manager with SNH. “It’s long lived, takes a long time to reach maturity and is highly sensitive to activities that disturb the seabed, such as coastal development or seabed fishing. As a result, populations can be quickly reduced but take a long time to recover.” “The decline of the species is of concern in its own right, but may have wider consequences. It's an important food item for a number of fish including cod, which is also on the draft list.”


Scotland's coasts and seas are among the most biologically productive in the world, supporting around 8,000 species of plants and animals (or about 40,000 species if tiny microscopic organisms are included).


New species are still being discovered, particularly in deeper waters to the north and west, and measures to protect this extraordinary biodiversity have been developing rapidly over the last 30 years.


2


2


Sea fans are typically thought of as creatures of the warm water tropics, but the northern sea fan thrives off Scotland’s west coast.


3


These beautiful molluscs have a spectacular fringe of orange tentacles. Divers call them flame shells.


4


The angler fish uses the ‘lure’ between its eyes to attract prey to within its reach.


24


The Nature of Scotland


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