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Exposed to moderately exposed, tide-swept bedrock and boulders, with dense Laminaria hyperborea forest, characterised by a rich under-storey and stipe flora of foliose seaweeds. The kelp stipes support epiphytes such as Metacallophyllis laciniata, Corallina officinalis, Cryptopleura ramosa, Membranoptera alata, and Phycodrys rubens. At some sites, instead of being covered by red seaweeds, the kelp stipes are heavily encrusted by the ascidians Botryllus schlosseri and in the south-west Distomus variolosus. Epilithic seaweeds (Dilsea carnosa, Hypoglossum hypoglossoides, Delesseria sanguinea, Plocamium cartilagineum, Vertebrata byssoides, and Dictyota dichotoma ) and crustose seaweeds commonly occur beneath the kelp. The kelp fronds are often covered with growth of the hydroid Obelia geniculata or the bryozoan Membranipora membranacea. Although these species are also found in most kelp forests, in this biotope they are particularly dense. On the rock surface, a rich fauna comprising of the sponges Pachymatisma johnstonia, Halichondria panicea, Amphilectus fucorum and Dysidea fragilis, anthozoans such as Urticina felina, Alcyonium digitatum and Caryophilia smithii, the barnacle Balanus crenatus, colonial ascidians such as Clavelina lepadiformis, and the gastropods Calliostoma zizyphinum and Steromphala cineraria, occur. Also found on the rock is the echinoderm Asterias rubens and the crab Cancer pagurus.