Carlingford Lough MCZ

Carlingford Lough is a narrow and shallow sea lough that lies on the east coast of Ireland, located at the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The MCZ is located off the northern shore and lies north of the navigation channel in the inner part of the Lough.

The MCZ has been designated as it supports the habitat Philine quadripartita (white lobe shell) and Virgularia mirabilis (sea-pen) in soft stable infralittoral mud. This habitat is only present in Carlingford Lough; individual records of P. quadripartita and V. mirabilis occur throughout Northern Ireland. P. quadripartita and V. mirabilis occur in high densities within the MCZ and this habitat is thought to be a temporal variant of other sublittoral cohesive mud and sandy mud communities.

Area: 3.23km²
Location (centroid): 54° 05.291’ N 6° 12.893’ W
Date Classified: 12/12/2016