Home / Blog / Tuesday 11 June 2013, Sea pens, macro algae, and harbour porpoises in the Sound

June 11, 2013

Tuesday 11 June 2013, Sea pens, macro algae, and harbour porpoises in the Sound

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© OCEANA

 

Today we spent another day in the northern part of the Sound. We were quite lucky! The weather was sunny and there was little wind, which made it perfect for at-sea operations. We launched the zodiac in the small harbour of Höganäs, and headed south. The plan was to study spots at the northern area of Grollegrund. Grollegrund is one of the newest marine protected areas in Sweden, it became protected because of small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) findings among others.

In total we conducted three ROVs immersions in the south of Höganäs. Sand bottoms with macro algae (such as sugar kelp), clams, starfish, and hermit crabs were documented at 13 meters depth. At one ROV location, which in comparison to the other two was situated further away from the coast, we filmed many sea pens on a muddy bottom. Just before making the third ROV, we spotted harbour porpoises swimming near us and even though they disappeared again fast we managed to take some photos.