5


Farther offshore


Another exceptionally long-lived creature found in our waters is the orange roughy, a deep-water fish known to live up to 150 years. Like Iceland cyprine, the orange roughy is slow growing, doesn’t become reproductively active until 20–30 years old and is on the international list of threatened and declining species. Between 1991 (when exploitation of northeast Atlantic stocks began) and 1994, orange roughy were fished down to 25% of their original population. Orange roughy live beyond Scottish territorial waters and are closely linked with ‘seamounts’. These underwater mountains provide ideal conditions for a range of marine communities, from filter-feeding creatures like sponges and corals to top predators like sharks and rays, which are attracted by the high levels of biodiversity. Orange roughy and seamounts are included on a


separate PMF list being developed by JNCC for Scottish waters beyond the 12 nautical miles limit. The two lists will be presented to Scottish ministers and, if adopted, combined into a single priority marine features list for the seas around Scotland. You can see the full draft list of PMFs for Scottish territorial waters at www.snh.gov.uk/priority-marine- features. It also has video clips of some of the rarely seen creatures on the list and you can learn more about the process undertaken by SNH to arrive at the list.


26 The Nature of Scotland


5


The deepwater orange roughy can live for up to 150 years.


6


The white cluster anemone is usually found in dark places such as overhangs, crevices and the roofs of caves.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68