Virgularia mirabilis and Ophiura spp. with Pecten maximus, hydroids and ascidians on circalittoral sandy or shelly mud with shells or stones

Description (English)

Circalittoral fine sandy mud with shell gravel and notable quantities of shells or small stones scattered over the sediment surface. These sediments, like A5.354, may contain Virgularia mirabilis, Pecten maximus and Ophiura spp. but shells and small stones scattered over the sediment surface provided sufficient stable substrata for a variety of sessile epifaunal species to occur. Of these the hydroids Kirchenpaueria pinnata, Nemertesia antennina and Nemertesia ramosa are most common with solitary ascidians such as Corella parallelogramma and Ascidia mentula also present. The anemone Cerianthus lloydii is often found in the sediment together with occasional Lanice conchilega. The serpulids Protula tubularia, Serpula vermicularis and Pomatoceros triqueter and the barnacles Balanus balanus and Balanus crenatus are also often present on pebbles and shells. Munida rugosa are occasionally found under larger stones. All these species are typical of more rocky habitats in such sheltered conditions. As with A5.354 this biotope is primarily identified on the basis of its epifauna and may be an epibiotic overlay over other closely related biotopes such as units A5.351 and A5.353.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification