Food Web in the Surf Zone of an Exposed Sandy Beach along the Mid-Atlantic Coast of the United States

Abstract

To the casual observer it appears that the exposed sandy beach of temperate latitudes is, except for the conspicuous migrating shore birds, a rather desolate and abiotic region of the sea. We know, however, that this air-sandwater interface is also inhabited by less conspicuous shore-zone fishes and invertebrates. Each group is relatively well-known, has a low diversity and has evolved a variety of unique adaptations required for such an existence. Their interactions as parts of a distinct community, however, have been intensively studied in only a few parts of the world (e.g. in South Africa, McLachlan et al. 1981). The low diversity of the exposed beach is a factor which tends to simplify progress toward an understanding of the interactions, but the physical harshness of the region tends to impede collection of required biological information dealing with the fauna.