Feather Star

Photo: philwilkinson · CC BY-NC

Feather stars cling to exposed rock and dead man's fingers colonies on the upper wall, extending their ten feathery arms into the current to capture drifting organic particles. When dislodged, they can swim with a surprisingly graceful undulating motion before settling again on a new perch. Their density on current-exposed sections of the Dunstaffnage wall indicates the high food particle content of the water — a direct result of the adjacent loch's outflow.