World’s Biggest Discovery: Colourful living reef of Shellfish

World’s Biggest Discovery: Colourful living reef of Shellfish

Shellfish

More than 100 million brightly coloured and rare shellfish have been found in Loch Alsh, a sea inlet between Skye and the Scottish mainland. The reef of flame shells, or Limaria hians, was found to cover an area of 7.5 sq. Km during a survey commissioned by Marine Scotland.

Loch Alsh, a sea inlet between Skye and the Scottish mainland

The shape of flame shells is similar to scallops and having neon orange tentacles that appear between the two shells. They group together on the sea bed and their nests create a living reef to support other species. This survey was actually carried out by Heriot-Watt University on behalf of Marine Scotland.

According to the reports of the survey, this discovery of large shellfish reef on the west coast of the UK could be the biggest find of its kind in the world.