Faunal communities on full salinity Atlantic infralittoral mixed sediment

Description (English)

Shallow mixed (heterogeneous) sediments in fully marine or near fully marine conditions, supporting various animal-dominated communities, with relatively low proportions of seaweeds. This habitat may include well mixed muddy gravelly sands or very poorly sorted mosaics of shell, cobbles and pebbles embedded in mud, sand or gravel. Due to the quite variable nature of the sediment type, a widely variable array of communities may be found, including those characterised by bivalves (MB4-233, MB4-231, and MB2-222), polychaetes (MB4-232) and file shells (MB2-221). This has resulted in many species being described as characteristic of this habitat type all contributing only a small percentage to the overall similarity (see below). This habitat type may also include a newly proposed Chaetopterus biotope (Rees pers com.) recently found in the eastern English Channel. This biotope is characterised by an undescribed Chaetopterus sp. and small Lanice conchilega. Further sampling is need in order to assess and fully characterise this potential biotope. As a result, the Chaetopterus biotope has not been included in this revision. Infaunal data for this habitat type are limited to that described in the biotope MB4-233 and so are not representative of the infaunal component of the whole habitat type.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification