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Starlet sea anemones rediscovered!
During marine week Norfolk Wildlife Trust had some exciting finds at their Cley Marsh nature reserve.
The starlet sea anemone was refound at both Cley Marshes and at Salthouse – it had been thought they had been lost after the storm surge of November 2007.
The starlet sea anemone only occurs in a few coastal lagoons in the UK and is listed as rare on the GB Red List of endangered species.
It was thought this tiny sea anemone had been lost from NWT Cley Marshes during the storm surges of November 2007, which buried part of its shallow saline lagoon habitat under tons of shingle and temporarily flooded it under sea water. However during a Marine Week event run by Norfolk Wildlife Trust, starlets were rediscovered on the nature reserve and at nearby NWT Salthouse Marshes.
David North, NWT’s education manager who discovered the starlets said: “It is always exciting to find a rare species and great news to know that this endangered species still thrives at Cley and Salthouse.
“Norfolk’s marine wildlife is fabulous but for most marine species living just offshore there is both a lack of public awareness and little protection for even endangered species. Our events over the last couple of weeks have attracted over 2,000 people to learn about marine wildlife. This is nearly four times as many people as last year so we are delighted! Working with local divers we have also introduced new interpretation at Cley Marshes visitor centre to highlight just how important our offshore wildlife is.”
As well as starlet sea anemones at Cley Marshes, at adjacent Blakeney Point a rare Sowerby’s beaked whale was recorded during Marine Week and the stranded young whale safely returned to the water by National Trust staff and volunteers. Both of these finds just show that Norfolk’s marine wildlife is just as varied, exciting and important as its better known terrestrial wildlife.
Starlet Sea Anemones are tiny, rarely more than 15 mm in length, translucent with patterns of opaque white on the tentacles. The shallow saline lagoons at Cley and Salthouse are priority habitats under the EC Habitats Directive. Elsewhere it is known from a few coastal lagoons on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and Dorset. The species is listed as vulnerable by IUCN and as rare on the GB Red List.