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Beneath the waves
Northern Ireland holds a special place in the oceans of the world. The temperature of our local waters lies between the cold water of the Arctic and the warmer water of the Mediterranean. We are surrounded by an extensive shelf of shallow water, on the eastern edge of the Atlantic, while strong tidal streams are caused by the geography of the Irish Sea. There is a very rich marine fauna with a mixture of southern and northern species and a wide range of seabed habitats, from mud to rock, sheltered to exposed.