Dead Man's Fingers

Thick colonies of this soft coral cover Fair Head's walls from 5 metres downward, their fleshy orange and white lobes extended to feed in the tidal flow and retracted into compact lumps when disturbed. They grow slowly — large colonies may be decades old — and provide shelter for brittlestars and small crabs among their bases. Fair Head represents some of the finest Alcyonium coverage on the Irish coast, enabled by the constant nutrient delivery from the North Channel.