Meet one of the stars of a new exhibition of marine life at Keighley's Cliffe Castle Museum.

Intimate Views features dozens of pictures taken by scientists and artists in a bid to link up the two disciplines.

Museum staff have brought many items out of Bradford council's collections, such as skeletons and giant shells, to complement the photos.

Museum spokesman Alison Armstrong says these natural artifacts are 'quite spectacular' due to their size or amazing shape. "Some of them are as big as a football, some are spiky and others are delicate," she says. "I can't remember them being on show in the past 20 years."

The collection includes marine worms, skeletons of crabs and lobsters, sea fans and sponges, and a two-foot-high clam shell. Alison says the exhibits make more sense of the photographs that fill the walls of Cliffe Castle's main gallery.

The photographers were linked by the value they put on Britain's coastal waters and its marine life, and wanted to present their personal views.

Alison says: "From the deep dark Scottish lochs to the shallow tide-swept waters of the Irish Sea, there are magical colours, shapes and forms in plentiful supply. Gardens of soft corals and sponges, shoals of silvery fish and multi-coloured anemones live their lives invisibly. These are as much a part of our natural heritage as woodlands, green pastures and mountains, and should be cherished just the same."

Alison hopes local schools will visit the exhibition as part of their studies in classifying animals.

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