Identify coast and marine wildlife

Part of the work of the Living Seas project is to identify and learn more about the wildlife that lives in Somerset’s sea. We are running walks and talks that will help with identifying marine life, but there is also a very good website that you can use to check out that “thing” that you found in a rockpool.

It is run by the The Marine Biological Association and is called MarLIN. This stands for Marine Life Information Network.
There is a lot of information on this website and I suggest that to get you going you look at the species identification section first.

Using the Marlin website

Go to www.marlin.ac.uk

• Click on species.
• Click on species list 
• Click on the illustration that looks most like what you found.

You will then be presented with photographs of various species that might be the one you found. Don’t forget to check on the distribution map as some species don’t occur in the South West.

Don't forget to tell us about it!

We'd very much like to know what species you might be finding along the shore, so if the MarLIN website helps you to name that species, please send your record to nigelphillipsa@tiscali.co.uk