The River Clyde is home to many different types of animal, be they bird, mammal, or otherwise - many of which most Glaswegians will never have seen.
At times it feels like we take the River Clyde for granted in Glasgow - it made the city what it is today - from the early days as a religious centre to serving as the lifeblood for Scotland during the era of the tobacco merchants and subsequent shipbuilding industry. Through its entire history, little attention has been paid to the animals that live in, upon, or around the Clyde.
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde, and is sheltered from the Atlantic Sea by the Kintyre Peninsula on Scotland's west coast. It also has the UK’s deepest coastal waters, with some area reaching as deep as 114 metres. These deep conditions (and heavy industry on the Clyde) influence the habitat that sees it differ from much of coastal Britain.
Not too often you'll see Dolphins swimming up the River Clyde and closer to Glasgow, other porpoises like Orcas and Humpback Whales never travel too far up the River Clyde from the Firth.
Today we wanted to look at the more strange and obscure life you can find in the River Clyde (or in many cases, the Firth of Clyde).
1. Harbour Porpoise
At first glance, the Harbour Porpoise looks a bit like a Dolphin, but a little bit chunkier. They are in fact one of the smallest species of cetacean (a group which includes Dolphins and Whales). As their name implies they stay close to the coast and often venture up the River Clyde, making them one of the more common marine animal sightings around Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
2. Brittle Stars
The muddy river bottom of the deep Clyde supports a range of alien looking species that are buried in the soft, fine sediment such as Brittle Stars. They generally have five long, slender, whip-like tentacles which they use to move around the river bed. You can find them hiding away under rocks, or at times inside of an another living organism.
3. Heart Urchin
The Heart Urchin is a funny little creature - at first you'd be forgiven for thinking it's just a bit of algae or other sea detritus. Heart urchins live in burrows lined with mucus. Long tentacles reach out over the sand to pick up small particles of food
4. Northern Gannet
You'll find Gannets all over the West coast of Scotland - there's a nesting colony on Ailsa Craig with over 26,000 pairs of Gannets - and they're not hard to spot either. They're Britain’s’ largest seabird, and can be sighted diving at speeds of up to 60mph during the spring and summer months.