Shoreline Habitat Classification

Estuarine, intertidal, mixed coarse, open, eulittoral

Most open estuarine intertidal sites in the Puget Trough have a poorly sorted substratum of mixed cobble, gravel, and sand, often distributed in patches along the beach.  Some small boulders, which are relatively stable, often overlie other substrata.  As in the corresponding marine habitat type, organisms in these habitats are diverse, with both epibiota (plants and animals) and infauna. Given the paucity of bedrock habitat in Puget Sound, cobbles in these habitats harbor a large proportion of the algal beds seen. Eelgrass beds often lie just subtidally of these beaches where the substratum becomes less coarse.  These beaches are used as feeding areas by cutthroat trout, juvenile salmon (chum and pink), fish-eating birds such as cormorants, grebes, loons, mergansers, and great blue herons, and bivalve-eating birds such as scoters and goldeneyes.

Class ID
65
Class name
Estuarine, intertidal, mixed coarse, open, eulittoral
Length
2.00
Primary substrate
Gravel
Secondary substrate
Sand
Tertiary substrate
Cobble
Substrate stability
Semi-stable surface features
Substrate key details
Some stable surface features (cobbles)
Wave exposure
Semi-protected
Blue book classes
Estuarine intertidal mixed-coarse: Open
Map/survey site examples
Richmond Beach, Carkeek Park, many other Puget Sound sites; Kiket Island, Cherry Point, Lummi Island; Shannon Point
Fish sampling sites
Beach Seine: Guemes Island SE
Diagnostic species
Ulva spp.
Leukoma staminea
Macoma inquinata
Phoronopsis harmeri
Owenia collaris
Mediomastus
Notomastus tenuis
Lepidopsetta bilineata
Pleuronichthys coenosus
Psettichthys melanostictus
Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus
Leptocottus armatus
VEC common associates
Saxidomus gigantea
Tresus capax
Venerupis philippinarum
Cancer productus
Crassostrea gigas
Habitat classification system