2. Données et outils
  3. Rechercher un habitat
  4. MC4-21 - Communautés animales de sédiment hétérogène du circalittoral en Atlantique
  5. Description
MC4-21 - Communautés animales de sédiment hétérogène du circalittoral en Atlantique

Faunal communities of Atlantic circalittoral mixed sediment

Classification des habitats EUNIS 2022

Descriptif de l'habitat

Mixed (heterogeneous) sediment habitats in the circalittoral zone (generally below 15-20 m) including well mixed muddy gravelly sands or very poorly sorted mosaics of shell, cobbles and pebbles embedded in or lying upon mud, sand or gravel. Due to the variable nature of the seabed a variety of communities can develop which are often very diverse. A wide range of infaunal polychaetes, bivalves, echinoderms and burrowing anemones such as Cerianthus lloydii are often present in such habitat and the presence of hard substrata (shells and stones) on the surface enables epifaunal species to become established, particularly hydroids such as Nemertesia spp and Hydrallmania falcata. The combination of epifauna and infauna can lead to species rich communities. Coarser mixed sediment communities may show a strong resemblance, in terms of infauna, to biotopes of sublittoral coarse sediment. However, infaunal data for this habitat type is limited to that described under the biotope MC4-213, and so are not representative of the infaunal component of this habitat type.

Bibliographie

European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity 2022. EUNIS marine habitat classification 2022 including crosswalks. Table Excel. (Source)