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Puffin with a beak full of sand eels

Lesser Sand Eel (Raitt's Sand Eel) Ammodytes marinus

They are distinctively slender with a pointed snout - giving them an eel-like shape. Between April and September they swim in large shoals close to the seabed and will burrow into the sand to escape predators. They are an incredibly important part of the marine ecosystem and are a favourite food of puffins, harbour porpoises, terns, pollack and mackerel. Image: Steve Higgins (Flickr).

Find out more: Suffolk Wildlife TrustiNaturalist, Marine Life Information Centre