The Marine Habitat Classification for Britain & Ireland (v04.05)

The marine habitat classification for Britain and Ireland provides a tool to aid the management and conservation of marine habitats. It is one of the most comprehensive marine benthic classification systems currently in use, and has been developed through the analysis of empirical data sets, the review of other classifications and scientific literature, and in collaboration with a wide range of marine scientists and conservation managers. It is fully compatible with and contributes to the European EUNIS habitat classification system.

This website shows the 04.05 version of the habitat classification, including the biotope descriptions, the search pages and expandable hierarchy. Downloadable documents for the classification system are also available.

To aid the informed identification of marine biotopes/habitats using species abundance data, the Bioscribe tool has been developed and can be downloaded from our website.

Classification Update

With new data available, JNCC are currently working on updating two areas of the classification: the offshore coarse sediments, particularly the circalittoral coarse and mixed sediments, and the deep-sea bed. These changes will also be incorporated into the EUNIS classification.

Please if you have any queries regarding the Marine Habitat Classification.

The classification should be cited as:
DAVID W. CONNOR, JAMES H. ALLEN, NEIL GOLDING, KERRY L. HOWELL, LOUISE M. LIEBERKNECHT, KATE O. NORTHEN AND JOHNNY B. REKER (2004)
The Marine Habitat Classification for Britain and Ireland Version 04.05 JNCC, Peterborough
ISBN 1 861 07561 8 (internet version)
jncc.defra.gov.uk/MarineHabitatClassification