Akmeņrags stand brings Baltic Sea underwater landscape to shore
Sunday 20th September 2026 on 09:30 in
Latvia
Visitors can explore the underwater landscape of the Baltic Sea at an information stand beside the Akmeņrags lighthouse, LSM reported. The display shows what the seabed looks like at a depth of 20 to 30 metres.
Moraine formations opposite the lighthouse create the European Union-protected habitat known as “Rock shoals in the sea”, one of the Baltic Sea’s most important protected habitats. The unique underwater relief was formed by glacial activity and is normally hidden beneath the water.
The formations make the Akmeņrags coast distinctive. Unlike the boulders interspersed with sand and gravel that are typical of the local coast, the seabed opposite Akmeņrags has varied relief, with formations up to four metres high.
“When diving or swimming, a person is usually in a horizontal position. The impression is, of course, much greater than if we stood down there like little poles,” Ieva Bārda, a researcher at the Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology, told Latvian Radio.
Bārda recalled seeing formations resembling raised structures and three-metre towers, along with passages that divers could swim through. The moraine formations also support considerable biological diversity, including northern mussels and a wide variety of fish. Currents have created a cave where cod lived, while butterfish were found farther away, she said.
The stand depicts only a small section of the unique area, which Bārda described as a highly important geomorphological feature in the Baltic Sea. Glaciers moved clay, sand and stones, depositing the material as they retreated and forming moraine, a mixture of sediments and rocks of different sizes. Sea currents later reshaped the formations by washing out depressions and creating a diverse underwater landscape.
The Kurzeme Planning Region team made the display available as part of a European Union project. Project manager Anna Elizabete Upsava said a QR code on the stand links to a website with footage filmed by Bārda and her colleagues while diving near Alku Shoal, along with explanatory material about the reefs.