Table 1.

Definitions of the spatial guilds present in this assemblage, with examples of species in each guild and guild size.

spatial guild	definition	examples	no. species
pelagic	open water species not adapted to deal with surfaces	herring, Clupea harengus	13
		sprat, Sprattus sprattus
proximo-benthic	species of free swimming fish which tend be found close to structures such as reefs or sand waves	bass, Dicentrarchus labrax	14
		whiting, Merlangius merlangus
hard-benthic	fish associated with hard surfaces and which normally rest on or under the seabed, or hidden within crevices	5-bearded rockling, Ciliata mustela	14
		conger eel, Conger conger
soft-benthic	as hard benthic but associated with soft sediment	flounder, Platichthys flesus	26
		Dover sole, Solea solea
weed	fish associated with seagrass and seaweed	black goby, Gobius niger	6
		15-spined stickleback Spinachia spinachia
sheltered shallow	species favouring harbours, lagoons and other inshore, low wave energy habitat.	thick-lipped grey mullet, Chelon labrosus	4
		thin-lipped grey mullet, Liza ramada
other	migratory species which are either catadromous or anadromous and pass through the estuary	Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, lamprey Petromyzon marinus	4