Maërl can be found in the clear waters of Galway Bay and around Ireland. Maërl beds are colourful, free-living, marine coralline red algae that are often mistaken to be coral. Unlike coral, maërl is a plant rather than an animal and needs to photosynthesise to produce energy. Maërl beds fill an important niche in the marine ecosystem, serving as a transition between rocky and sandy habitats. Maërl provides a stable and three-dimensional habitat onto which a variety of species can attach. Diverse benthic communities such as those of sea cucumbers, clams, scallops and other bivalves live around maërl beds. They are mobile sediments which roll and saltate gently along the seabed, following the motions of the tides and the rhythmic action of the waves.