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The infralittoral zone is the algal-dominated zone down to around five metres below the low water mark. The circalittoral zone is the region beyond the infralittoral, which is dominated by sessile animals such as oysters. The subtidal zone is the region of the neritic zone which is below the intertidal zone, therefore never exposed to the ...
The intertidal or littoral zone: area between the high and low-tide marks. Can be further divided into high, mid, and low intertidal zones, which are explained below in more depth. [4] The sublittoral or subtidal zone: area below the low-tide mark. The presence and abundance of flora and fauna vary between zones along the rocky shore.
Marine biologists divide the intertidal region into three zones (low, middle, and high), based on the overall average exposure of the zone. [2] The low intertidal zone, which borders on the shallow subtidal zone, is only exposed to air at the lowest of low tides and is primarily marine in character.
The pelagic (water column) environment of the continental shelf constitutes the neritic zone, and the benthic (sea floor) province of the shelf is the sublittoral zone. [35] The shelves make up less than 10% of the ocean, and a rough estimate suggests that only about 30% of the continental shelf sea floor receives enough sunlight to allow ...
The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. [1] In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas that are permanently submerged — known as the foreshore — and the terms are often used interchangeably.
Organisms living in this zone have a highly variable and often hostile environment, and have evolved various adaptations to cope with and even exploit these conditions. One easily visible feature of intertidal communities is vertical zonation , where the community is divided into distinct vertical bands of specific species going up the shore.
In the marine environment, phytobenthos can be found as far back from the shore as the subtidal zones where they are consistently submerged in water. [26] Their productivity does not extend beyond the outer boundary of the littoral zones, the region to which sunlight can still penetrate to the bottom. [27]
The most apparent character of the area is the development of tidal channels, affecting mainly the intertidal zone. In this case, the tidal flat is protected seaward by a beach barrier , but in many cases (low-energy waves and longshore currents ) the tidal flats may directly pass into a shallow marine environment.