Sandy shore animals possess unique features as a result of the harsh, dynamic, and volatile physio-chemical characteristics of sandy shore

1. Faunal Characteristics
of Sandy SHORE Animals
Md. Al Tahsin Mahmud Khan
B.Sc.(Hons)
Department of Oceanography
Faculty of Marine Science
Fisheries
University of Chittagong

2. Sandy shore
• A sandy beach is a land bordering the
sea defined as the accumulation of soft
sediments laid by waves and tides.
• It is usually consisting of sand, gravel
and made up of locally found tiny
material.
An active beach is divided into three
regions :
• Backshore
• On shore
• Fore shore

3. Animals
found
in Sandy
Shore

4. Faunal adaption and
special characteristic
• Faunal Adaptation is the
process by which species
becomes fitted to
its environment;
• Organisms are adapted
to their environments in a
great variety of ways in
order to survive,
reproduce and to get
advantage of
the environment
• The characteristics that
are developed after
adaption is called special
faunal characteristics

5. Faunal
characteristics
Tidal Migration
Breeding
Adaption
Uniqe Feeding
Behavior
Special
adapterd
organs
Burrowing in
Sand

6. Tidal Migration
Sandy shore habitants shows tidal
migration to adapt with the wave action .
Example- Isopods, Eurydice, Emerita.

7. Burrowing
features

8. Feeding Behavior
Since there is no flora in this
ecosystem , consumers are mostly
filter feeders, wreck feeders and
deposit feeders.
Type of feeders:
➢ Wreck Feeders
➢ Filter or suspension feeders
➢ Deposit feeders
➢ Detrius feeders

9. Wreck Feeders
Wreck is the term used for surf grass, sea-
weed debris found in the shore. 40% of
marine invertebrates found in sandy shore are
wreck feeders.
Ex: Beach hoppers, roly polies, kelp flies, rover
beatles

10. Wreck
feeder animals

11. Filter Feeders
Filter feeders pulled in the
water which contains nutrients
in through one of their syphons
and into their gills. The cilia in
the gills is able totrap tiny food
particle
From the water and move them
down to their mouth. Then the
water is pushed through other
syphons.
Sand dollar, heart clam, Sand
crab, Sand dollar, Sea star,
bean clam, pismo clam.

12. Filter-Feeder
Animals

13. Deposit Feeders
Some Sand dwellers are adapted to feed on the deposit of the beach. The
deposit is consisting of sand, organic matter are made up the remains of
dead organisms.
For example, Pectinaria builds a delicate tusk like tube and into the burrow, it
excavates a conical depression and feeds on the particle slips into the
depression , by picking them with tentacles.
Arenicola is another deposit feeder.

14. Deposit-Feeders

15. Detritus Feeder
Detritus, a thin layer of ooze which coats the surface of sandy beach after the
tide has gone out. It is consisted of bacteria, remains of algae and decaying
fragments of dead animals and diatoms.
Many types of marine and intertidal groups are adapted to feed on it.
• Crabs use mandibles to nibble off the detritus
• Semaphore crabs has feeding claws shaped like spoons
to shovel up the detritus.
• The sand bubblers carves out grooves in the sand , quickly shifting the out
the detritus particle with its highly adapted mouth parts.

16. Detritus
Feeders

17. Adapted Organs
(Siphon)
While buried in the sand, aninal must have
a mechanism for respiration.
Many species have specialized breathing tube or
siphon used to pump water into the body, where it
passes over the gills so that the animal can obtain
Oxygen, plankton

18. Flat Shape of
Bivalve
To resist dislodgement by wave, many animal
have streamlined or flat body shape. The smooth
shell of olive snails allows it to reduce wave
resistance .

19. It means one of the pair of legs of
crab or decapods that bear claw.
Crab use it for burrowing in sand,
cutting food, avoid predation,
attacking prey, avoid being
washed away
Chelipeds of Crab

20. Breeding Adaption
(Turtles)
There are many other true marine animals which visit
the intertidal sands mainly for breeding. Ex: king crabs,
the grunion and the sea-turtles
The female crab excavates a hole in the sand
deposits the eggs which are soon fertilized by the males.
Femal turtles excavate pits in the sand, bury
their leathery-shelled eggs there and then return to
the sea.
The young after hatching crawl down and swim off.
These eggs are soon covered with sand by
the action of waves.

21. The grunion, tenuis of the
California coast, visits the intertidal
sandy shore for breeding.
Breeding migration depends on
lunar cycle and
so that the developed eggs may be
washed back into the sea by the
next spring tide.