Rocky and Sandy Shores
Anne Gillis & Charity Sonier
What are Rocky Shores...?
A rocky shore consists of rocky ledges with pools
of salty water, boulders, pebbles and other nonliving things such as air and sunlight.
Living in this habitat is a community of hardy plants
and animals; each species is specially adapted for
coping with the harsh environment around it.
Rocky Vs. Sandy
Along the rocky coasts, organisms can attach
themselves to the rock; along a sandy
shoreline, there is no way for the organisms to
attach themselves to the sand.
Also Sandy shores tend to have very high and
very low dunes.
Rocky and Sandy Shore Organisms
• Sea Grass
• Hermit Crabs
• 11 Armed Sea Star
• Barnacles
• Limpet
• Mussels
• Hermit Crabs
• They are specially curved and soft in shape and
must take refuge in empty shells for protection
• As the crab grows he is forced to move from shell
to shell until he is fully grown.
• Barnacles
• Barnacles are encrusters, attaching
themselves permanently to a hard
surfaces
• suspension feeders; they dwell
continually in their shell.
• Limpets
– Numerous different kinds of saltwater and
freshwater snails that have a simple shell.
• Mussels
– Related to the clam family
– Lives in either saltwater of freshwater
environments.
Rocky Shores
Barnacles
• Splash tide and high
tides
Cockabully
• Midtide
Mussels
• Clam, phylum Mollusca
Sponges
• Tidal fringe
Sandy Shores
Sandhoppers
• High tide sandy
shores
Cockies
• Low tide sandy
shores
THREATS TO ROCKY SHORES!
Rocky shores and the life associated with them
are harmed by pollution, much of which is
brought to the coast by rivers.
Sewage in river water can carry cholera which is
then taken up by shellfish and, when this is
eaten by people, the latter can become
infected.
Many rocky shores are subject to indiscriminate
collecting of bait, shells and rock pool life.