Shoreline Habitat Classification

Estuarine, intertidal, mixed coarse, partly enclosed, eulittoral

This is the most commonly mapped habitat type in the Salish Sea. Most 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. Clams often thrive in this sediment because it is hard for predators to dig to them. 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
66
Class name
Estuarine, intertidal, mixed coarse, partly enclosed, eulittoral
Length
792.00
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, Protected
Blue book classes
Estuarine intertidal mixed-coarse: Open
Map/survey site examples
Much of Puget Sound shorelines; in Shorezone, these sites are mapped as "partly enclosed" (66) rather than "open" (65). Also includes much of Sequim Bay, Discovery Bay (incl Beckett Point)
Fish sampling sites
Beach Seine: Shannon Point, Guemes Island NE, Legoe Bay, Cherry Point, Seahurst, (Three Tree Point), Point Pully, Aquarium (SE Vashon Park),Tramp Harbor, Saltwater State Park, Tatsolo Point
Diagnostic species
Ulva spp.
Leukoma staminea
Macoma inquinata
Phoronopsis harmeri
Owenia collaris
Mediomastus
Notomastus tenuis
Parophrys vetulus
Cymatogaster aggregata
Lepidopsetta bilineata
Embiotoca lateralis
Leptocottus armatus
Aulorhynchus flavidus
Enophrys bison
VEC common associates
Saxidomus gigantea
Tresus capax
Venerupis philippinarum
Cancer productus
Crassostrea gigas
Habitat classification system
Type