As rocky shores occur from the West Coast to the East Coast, you find different seaweeds and animals as you travel along the coastline with species like the brown mussel more common in warm water, while the ridged mussel is common on the cold West Coast. The most familiar animals on the rocky shore are the mussels, limpets and snails that humans have harvested for thousands of years. Some famous rocky shores are Shaka’s Rock, Treasure Beach and Mission rocks in KwaZulu-Natal Cove Rock and Cape Recife in the Eastern Cape Dalebrook and Cape Agulhas in the Western Cape and the beautiful rocky shorelines of the Namaqua National Park Marine Protected Area in the Northern Cape Rocky shores occur all along the South African coastline, from the cold West Coast to the warm East Coast. Many animals can move to avoid drying out, hiding beneath rocks, within rock pools, among seaweed gardens or between dense mussel beds. Mussels, barnacles and limpets attach themselves firmly to rocks and have protective shells to keep them moist and safe from predators. Most animals have adaptations that allow them to thrive in this harsh environment and can withstand waves that knock them off the rocks drying out and high temperatures during low tide and predation. Rocky platforms, boulders, pebbles and tide pools create homes for many different animals and seaweeds -but surviving on the rocky shore is not easy. Rocky shores are windows into the sea and by looking closely into tidal pools we can spot the kinds of creatures that live in deeper parts of our ocean. These magical intertidal habitats are common along the entire South African coastline – making them familiar to many South Africans. People have a long history of collecting food from rocky shores. Rocky shores are the rocky places between land and sea and are one of the easiest ecosystem types to visit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |