Marine Intertidal Rock: Backshore (All Exposures)

Splash zones in rocky intertidal areas have characteristic types of organisms, although the width of this zone and the precise species found vary with wave exposure and sunlight.

Diagnostic Species

The lichens Verrucaria spp. (black), Caloplaca (orange), and others; films of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), the green alga Prasiola meridionalis, the snails Littorina spp., the isopod Ligia pallasii, and in pools the red copepod Tigriopus californicus.

Sources

Kozloff, 1983; Dethier unpubl. data.