The ecology of eelgrass meadows in the Pacific Northwest: A ...

Table 12. Thirty-six mst abunbnt diatan
epiphytes on eelgrass in the Y~WFJIM
Estuary, Oregon (after Main and ~1ntit-e
19741 and a mll list of epiphytes found
in Puget Sound, Washington (after phillips
1972).
layer and its ability to colonize and
complete a life cycle in a very short
time, it appears that much of the nursery
and trophic functions of an eelgrass
meadow would never develop.
Many epibenthic animals are relatively
large and conspicams. Some of than, such
as Dungeness crabs (~igure 14), brokenback
and coon-stripe shrimps, Erigl lsh
sole, and starry flounders, are
commercially important. These anrlnals are
listed in Table 13 ,A, b.
Major reviews of the epibenthos which
include lists of epifautla were included in
A l l e e (1923), Ledoyer (1962,
1964a,b), Kikuchi (1966, 19UB), and
Kikuchi and Peres (1977).
Scallops, crabs, sponges, mussels, sea
urchins, stwimps, flatfish, sea slugs, sea
cucumbers, snails, brittle stars, ribbon
worms, polychaete worms, flatworms,
nematodes, and amphipods have been
a890~iated with the sediment surface.
Thayer et al. (1975b), working in a newly
eetablished eelgrass meadow in North
Carolina, determined that gastropods
represented 72% of the total numbers of
epifauna found in the system. Deposit
feeders represented 77% of the numbers;
suspnaron feeders 18%; and carnivorescavengers
5%. There was a seasonal
variation in numbers with max irnum
abundance rn spring and early summer.
This is also true for Puget Sound
(~imenstad et al. 1979). Wolfe et al.
(1976) analyzed transfers of Mn, Fe, Cu,
and Zn through trophic levels in this
eelgrass bed and found very l~ttle
transfer from eelgrass.
In Alaska, Dungeness crabs can best be
fished in eelgrass beds. In summer the
crabs appear to consume eelgrass.
Gotshall (1977) found 7-15 percent of
crab gut contents composed of eelgrass.
In Puget Sound, Dungeness and red rock
crabs scavenge in eelgrass meadows (~eak
Consultants 1975).
Prynt (1979) noted that Padilla Bay, one
of the three largest eelgrass meadows on
the Pacific coast, contains sigrlificant