Lagis koreni and Phaxas pellucidus in circalittoral sandy mud

Description (English)

In stable circalittoral sandy mud dense populations of the tube building polychaete Lagis koreni may occur. Other species found in this habitat typically include bivalves such as Phaxas pellucidus, Mysella bidentata and Abra alba and polychaetes such as Mediomastus fragilis, Spiophanes bombyx, Owenia fusiformis and Scalibregma inflatum. At the sediment surface easily visible fauna include Lagis koreni and Ophiura ophiura. Lagis koreni is an important source of food for commercially important demersal fish, especially dab and plaice (Macer, 1967; Lockwood, 1980 and Basimi & Grove, 1985).
Temporal variation: In some areas e.g. Liverpool Bay, A5.261 and A5.355 have exhibited cyclical behaviour with the community periodically switching from one biotope to another - possibly in relation to dredge spoil disposal (Rees et al. 1992) along with other environmental and biological factors. Both Lagis koreni and Phaxas pellucidus, are capable of tolerating sudden increases in the deposition of sediment and often dominate such areas following such an event. Indeed it is likely that the two biotopes are merely different aspects of the same community as Lagis koreni is often recorded with high densities of Abra alba (Eagle 1975; Rees and Walker 1983). Densities of mature populations of L. koreni may exceed 1000m-2

Source: EUNIS habitat classification