Coastal habitats
Coastal habitats are places where the land meets the sea or ocean.
They can have rocky cliff edges, sandy beaches and rock pools.
There are many different plants and animals that live in coastal habitats.
All animals need the same important things to survive; water, air, shelter and food and a coastal habitat provides all of these to the animals that live there.
Animals don't choose their habitat because they are suited to it. Their adaptations (the features that make them suited to their environment) happen randomly. If these adaptations help an animal to survive then they are passed on to its children. This is called evolution.
Watch: What are coastal habitats?
Explore the coastal habitats of the UK.
Here in the UK, we have lots of coastal habitats.
Ever wondered what plants and animals live there?
Well, pack your net, we're off to look in some rock pools!
Ooh. Urgh. It looks very wet and windy here.
But there is life here.
Like that seaweed.
And animals, like those limpets on that rock.
They're a kind of snail with a shell and soft body.
They hold very tightly to the rock so they don't get washed away by strong waves.
And what's this? It's a starfish! Can you see it move?
No? That's because it moves very, very slowly.
Most have 5 arms, but some have more.
No…still not moving.
And there's a crab. They walk sideways, how strange!
They can squeeze into small cracks in the rock or burrow into sand.
Plus they can live in water and in air. Amazing!
So, coastal habitats are wet and windy, but there are lots of things to see.
What would you catch in your net?
Fascinating facts
- The UK coastline is one of the longest in Europe. It is 11,000 miles all the way round.
- Puffins are sea-birds which live underground in burrows. They can live for up to twenty years.
- There are over 200 kinds of seaweed that grow around the UK coast.
- There are around 300 active lighthouses around the UK coast. Lighthouses help to keep ships safe as they sail around the coast.
- Seagulls can drink both freshwater and seawater.
- Humans in the UK have been eating mussels for at least the last 20,000 years.
- There are over 1,000 islands off the coast of the UK, although people only live on around 290 of them.
- Starfish are not fish, they are invertebrates called echinoderms.
What is a coastal habitat like?
Coastal habitats are affected by the tides of the sea, which is the rise and fall of sea levels. The weather can change a lot as well, with lots of sea storms and wind throughout autumn and winter.
As the tide goes out, it leaves rock pools which become microhabitats for crabs, starfish, sea anemones and fish.
Coastal habitats can also have beaches, salt marshes, sand dunes and rocky cliffs, which all provide food and shelter for lots of different species of sea-birds, such as gulls, puffins, guillemots and oystercatchers.
The plants that live in coastal habitats are adapted to survive there. Seaweed has adapted to its surroundings by clinging to rocks so that it isn't carried away by the tide. Seaweeds also provide food and shelter for coastal birds and animals.
What is a coastal habitat?
Image caption, The coastline
Coastal habitats are where the land meets the sea. These habitats are influenced by the tides of the sea and are home to lots of different plants and animals that have evolved to live there.
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Did you know?
There are many different types of gull that live around the UK.
Gulls are often called seagulls although many of them can be found living far from the sea. The largest is the great black-backed gull which can often be seen inland, scavenging for food on rubbish dumps.
Seagulls have special glands next to their eyes that help them get rid of excess salt from the seawater they drink.
Watch: Coastal microhabitats
Within a coastal habitat, there may be microhabitats such as rock pools.
“The sea moves in and out twice each day. It's known as the tide. At high tide, this patch of rock is under water. At low tide, the sea's drawn back and the rocks dry out in the sun.”
“It's changing all the time. Wet then dry, then wet, then dry. And it makes living here difficult, but some creatures do manage it.”
“Look into these rock pools and you'll find them filled with all sorts of life.”
“So what kind of creatures have you found here in the rock pool?”
“I've found two small beadlet sea anemones. If you look at them at the moment in the water, you see the tentacles that are out on the top there. And he's actually busy feeding at the moment. If we take him out, we can see just how well attached he is to the rock there.”
“Yeah. He's completely stuck there.”
“This is very important to the sea anemone to make sure he's not washed away by powerful currents and waves in the sea. He's very firmly attached, but he can move if he wants to. He can move very slowly, perhaps from rock to rock, which enables him to find better feeding, in another area perhaps.”
“We'll put this one back in the water. We can see we've got some seaweed down here. This is very interesting. Like the sea anemone, the seaweed's very soundly attached to the rocks. This particular type is called bladderwrack, and you can see it's got lots of little air pockets in there, which when the tide comes back in and covers the weed over with water, it'll actually float up, allowing it to drift around.”
“Seaweed and anemones have to be well stuck on because the seashore's a really tough world. All the time, the waves are crashing down, and nothing survives here without some sort of protection.”
“Oh, yes. That's a big one. That looks like a shore crab. A male. Look on the underside. You can see by the shape of the tail there, that's a male. He's missing one of his claws. He's actually missing two legs at the back and one of his claws. This is quite common for crabs because they often fight with each other. And then later on, they can actually regrow their limbs back again, so they can grow a new claw or maybe new legs.”
A crab's shell is like a suit of armour, protecting it against all sort of enemies – other crabs, poisonous fish, sea birds and it's also a surprisingly good disguise.”
This is a much smaller one. More aggressive as well.”
“A green one this time.”
“That's right; they actually vary in colour quite considerably. The reason for that is the background. You see all the different colours you can see in the rock pool here? Each one helps to blends in.”
“That one's got a red underside whereas this one is green on the underside. And you can see it blowing bubbles as it's trying to breathe.”
“I couldn't get over how much life there was in this harsh, rocky world, and Marcus had saved the best ‘till last.”“Oh, look! It's a starfish. Can I turn it over?”
“Yes, no problem at all.”
“It doesn't bite, does it?”
“No, they don't bite at all. They're quite harmless.”
“Oh, that's incredible. Look - all the legs.”
“Now if you look down the centre of the arms, you can see his tube feet. He has hundreds of those. They've all got little suckers on the end.”
“And is that how he clings onto the rocks?”
That's right, yes. And when they all move in the same direction - that's how he walks across the sea bed.”
“Amazing! Very pretty. I'd better put him back.”
Did you know?
Crabs are a species of invertebrate called a crustacean.
They are covered in a hard shell called an exoskeleton which protects them from danger.
Crabs live in all of the world's oceans, in freshwater, and also on land.
Important words
Adaptation – The way that animals change to suit different conditions.
Air – All animals need air to breathe.
Coastal habitat – Where an animal or plant lives, in an area next to or close to the sea.
Evolution – The way that animals develop small differences over time.
Food – The things that an animal or plant eats and gains nutrition from.
Freshwater – Water without salt that is found inland in lakes, ponds and streams.
Invertebrates – Animals without a backbone.
Microhabitat –A small area which differs somehow from the larger surrounding habitat.
Shelter – Where an animal finds protection from predators.
Water – All animals need to drink or take in water to survive.
Activities
Activity 1 – Find the coastal animals
Activity 2 – Coastal habitats quiz
Activity 3 – Sort the coastal animals
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