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Article History

Received: 30 October 2025

Revised: 25 January 2026

Accepted: 27 January 2026

First Online: 28 February 2026

Declarations

:

: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest or competing interests.

: All necessary permits for sampling and observational field studies have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities (National Parks and Wildlife Service, Ireland). The CBD and Nagoya protocols are not relevant. The study does not contain sampling material from field studies (all animals were released).

: All authors consented to participate in the study.

: The data presented in this paper form part of a long-term data set gathered over nearly 30 years, primarily by private funding. Once we have completed publishing data on individual groups of organisms, we will be analysing the entire community data set, which will then be made publicly available.

: CL and CDT conceived and designed the research. All authors were actively involved in field sampling: rock turning, counting, measuring, or recording. CDT and CL analysed intertidal data; RM and LH coordinated subtidal work; VM, KO, LH, and RM filmed underwater video, analysed video footage, or collected subtidal specimens. CDT, CL, JMH, CGP, GAW, DM and RM wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.