Search

Sheltered shallow sublittoral muds and gravelly muds in marine embayments, inlets or harbours may contain populations of the edible cockle Cerastoderma edule with Abra nitida. Other taxa may include the gastropod Peringia ulvae, cirraltulid polychaetes such as Caulleriella spp. and other polychaetes including Hediste diversicolor and Aphelochaeta marioni. Available data for this biotope are limited to parts of Southampton Water, Chichester Harbour, and in the Wash. The species list given here may therefore be far from complete. It is not known at this stage whether this biotope is a sublittoral extension of intertidal cockle beds (e.g. LS.LSa.MuSa.CerPo) or whether it exists independently of intertidal populations of C. edule.