Atlantic abyssal sand

Description (English)

Deep-sea sand sediments have a diverse infaunal community dominated by polychaetes. Epifauna tend to be sparse, mobile species, or burrowing fauna such as anemones and brittlestars visible at the surface. In the absence of ecological data, sand habitat can be defined according to Long (2006), which describes the classification's broad sediment types according to the relative proportion of mud, sand and gravel (see p3 of UKSeaMap 2010 technical report 3 http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/UKSeaMap2010_TechnicalReport_3_Substrate2.pdf). It can be difficult to reliably distinguish between mud and sand using video data only. Note that muddy sand sediments are classed as mud if the mud content is great enough. If sediment particles are large enough to be classed as gravel using the Folk classification, then sediment would be classed as coarse sediment rather than sand. If sand contains a high enough percentage of gravel it is also classed as coarse sediment.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification