The Range of Biomass in Intertidal Sand, with Special Reference to the Bivalve Tellina Tenuis

Abstract

Because of the attention at present focused on the artificial rearing of plaice and other flat fish, there has been a revival of interest in the shallow sandy areas where the first bottom stages of these fish live. An additional interest in such areas derives from the growing threat of marine pollution. A need is being increasingly felt for more basic data on the structure of animal communities in unpolluted coastal waters, and on the range of natural variation within these communities so that base lines can be set, against which changes due to pollution may be assessed. With all these interests in mind, a detailed study is at present under way from the Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, of the fauna of Scottish coastal waters. This paper, dealing with some of the preliminary results, describes the range of macrobenthic biomass of intertidal sand communities, and discusses the variations.