Pink sea fans on display at Goodwick marine centre
Four vulnerable pink sea fans arrive at Sea Trust’s Ocean Lab, highlighting Pembrokeshire’s marine conservation challenges and recovery efforts.
A quartet of pink sea fans, the vulnerable soft coral Eunicella verrucosa, has been installed on public display at Sea Trust’s Ocean Lab in Goodwick, offering visitors a rare glimpse of a species that is disappearing from Wales’ coastal waters.
The exhibit forms part of Natur am Byth!, a national species‑recovery programme funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund with backing from the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales.
“We’re delighted to welcome these pink sea fans to the Ocean Lab and look forward to watching them grow,” said Lloyd Nelmes, aquarist at Sea Trust.
He added, “They are beautiful, fragile animals that most people will never have the chance to see in the wild, so bringing them here gives visitors a rare window into Pembrokeshire’s underwater world.”
Nelmes explained that the display aims to inspire a deeper appreciation for the marine life that surrounds the county’s coast, noting that “bringing these corals to the Ocean Lab is a powerful way to help people connect with life beneath the waves and understand why protecting places like Pembrokeshire’s seas is so important.”
Pink sea fans are slow‑growing soft corals that cling to shallow, rocky seabeds, with the northern edge of their UK range lying off Pembrokeshire.
Young specimens add roughly one centimetre of growth each year, while older fans can exceed a century in age, making them living archives of long‑term environmental change.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Eunicella verrucosa as Vulnerable, a status underscored by recent surveys in the Skomer Marine Conservation Zone.
Long‑term diving work by Natural Resources Wales has recorded a steep decline, with almost half of the 124 sea fans photographed annually now missing, most losses occurring since 2015.
Scientists attribute the downturn to a suite of pressures, including rising sea temperatures, deteriorating water quality, marine litter, entanglement with shark egg cases, predation and physical damage from fishing gear, divers and anchoring.
The Goodwick display is the result of a collaborative effort involving the Marine Conservation Society, the University of Exeter, the Horniman Museum in London and Sea Trust.
The four fans were originally collected under licence from the south‑Devon coast by University of Exeter researchers and cultivated from fragments as part of a PhD project on the species’ reproduction and larval dispersal.
After a period of care in the Horniman Aquarium’s Project Coral lab, the corals were safely transported to Goodwick by the Marine Conservation Society.
Sue Burton of the Marine Conservation Society praised the partnership, saying, “The tag‑team effort in bringing these animals to Wales was only possible because of the brilliant researchers that we’ve been working with.”
She continued, “We’re proud to work with partners to showcase this remarkable species.” Pink sea fans are extraordinary animals, but their decline shows how vulnerable our marine wildlife can be.”
Visitors to the Ocean Lab can now observe the delicate pink fans swaying in a simulated current, an educational showcase that underscores the urgency of protecting Wales’ marine habitats.
Marine charities hope the exhibit will galvanise public support for measures such as stricter fishing regulations, improved water‑quality monitoring and expanded marine protected areas.
As the fans settle into their new home, researchers will continue to monitor their health, hoping the display will serve both as a conservation triumph and a catalyst for broader marine stewardship across the region.