Sussex is home to some amazing marine life, and I thought in this article we would take a quick look at my personal top ten to see when snorkelling, freediving and SCUBA diving in Sussex waters. I am regularly asked is there anything to see here, or what do you see here? The answer is so much it is hard to pick just ten!
They are not in presented in any order, I simply love them all and seeing each one makes my day. I have mentioned how you can see them for yourself based on my experiences, so let’s jump in. This is a whistle stop tour but if you wish to learn more about each one, check out their Meet the Marine Neighbour feature on the blog.
We will start small, so small you will need to think in terms of a strand of brightly coloured pink/purple cotton or fluff. The Violet Sea Slug (Flabellina pedata) is just one of the sea slugs called nudibranchs we have locally, they love to rest on the red weeds whilst feeding on hydroids, the white tips on their rhinophores is often the first thing you see. I have only seen them scuba diving when I can spend time studying areas for this tiny beauty, I will confess I do love a nudibranch hunt!
The sheer colour range in the Dahlia Anemones (Urticina felina) is staggering. They are a large anemone and can grow to the size of dinner plates, they have stout tentacles which are often banded in contrasting colours. I have seen reds, yellows and even an incredible lilac colour, just the once, at Selsey. On big tides with a little luck, you can find them in rock pools but generally, I see them snorkelling.
Dolphins and porpoise are always popular, and I have seen them when out diving and freediving from a boat. I have not been lucky enough to encounter them under the water just yet but have heard then talking as they pass by under out of sight and the boat skipper is always pleased to tell us they visited him whilst we were under the water. They generally prefer to be a little further offshore but check out Sussex Dolphin Project who offer boat trips and volunteer opportunities so you can see them too and who provided this fabulous image taken by Thea Taylor.
We are fortunate enough to have a good local population of the Small Spotted Catshark (Scyliorhinus canicular). This is bottom living shark, that is most active at night, but you will find them resting on the seabed during the day. They are a pleasure to watch, and I have encountered them when snorkelling not far from the beach in a variety of locations in Sussex. If they feel disturbed by your presence, by bubbles or splashing, they gracefully glide off with the lovely motion of all sharks, but on occasion are very happy to pose for photographs.
One of the creatures that loves the areas of clay and soft bottoms is the Piddocks, locally we tend to have the Common Piddock (Pholas dactylus), the Mixon Hole is well known for them. They bore into the bottom so as you freedive or SCUBA dive over them you can just see the holes where they are open and feeding. You can commonly find their pale beautiful shells, washed up on shore, often just the one half as bivalve shells rarely survive wave action intact.
Marine worms never cease to amaze me, many of them are a far cry for the garden worm you may be imagining now. We do get segmented worms but for this list the mention goes to the Peacock Worms (Sabella pavonine). This is a tube worm who lives in a very slender tube and has a crown of feathery tentacles for feeding. They can be found in fields that reach across the bottom and look like a flower meadow when all out feeding. They are however very sensitive to movement, withdrawing back into the safety of the tube when they sense motion, making it hard to point them out to the SCUBA divers I have taken on tours, once they retreat the little tubes are very plain and hard to miss!
If you have ever been lucky enough to see a ray or skate resting with its fins up, soaking up the sun you know why this made the list. We have several local species but encountering the young Atlantic Sting Rays on a dive is a firm favourite. I can clearly recall my first on a beautiful July day, warm sunshine, very clear water and then two amazing young stingrays. Freediving allows me to get very close without disturbing them, with no bubbles, unlike SCUBA diving, they are unbothered by my presence.
The next entry is in fact a two for one – the Greater Pipefish (Syngnathus acus) and Short Snouted Sea Horse (Hippocampus hippocampus). The pipefish shares the same distinctive snout as the sea horse and is commonly sighted with it’s head up, body curled in the weed. You usually see the head and snout first as they blend well into the weeds. At low water I have seen these just a couple of metres from the beach when snorkelling. The Short Snouted Sea Horse is a rarer spot but has been recorded by Scuba Divers, I am still waiting to see my first in person maybe 2025 will be my lucky year, they are masters of camouflage, and a protected species so make sure you know the rules!
One thing Sussex has is plenty of crabs in all shape and sizes. Selsey is known for its edible crab but the one that makes this list is the smaller sponge crabs (Inachus sp.). They have very long slender legs and a triangular body that is almost always covered in pieces of sponge – there in fact three distinct species, but the sponge covering makes them tricky to tell apart. One of the species likes to hang out around the beautiful snakelocks anemone. These are best seen when freediving or scuba diving as with the sponge they do blend well into the background.
My last mention goes to all the wrasse species you can find here. From large Ballan Wrasse (Labrus bergytla) to the colourful Corkwing (Crenilarus melops) and Cuckoo wrasse (Labrus mixtus) to name just three of the species you can find in Sussex. They are often observed swimming along the ends of the groynes and playing amongst the seaweeds. They love the hollows that form in the wood and can be seen snorkelling not far from shore, at certain times of the year carrying bits of weed for nest building.
There are so many more I want to mention, but I promised ten and these are ten of my favourites. What would be your ocean top ten be?
You can check out some great videos and images of Sussex marine life at Sussex Underwater and Gios Diving on Instagram @giosdiving.
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