Ulva Area
 
A portion of the False Bay habitat smothered by the green alga Ulva.
A terebellid worm, from the Ulva area, displaying its many fine tentacles inside our worm farm.
 
This area consisted of silty mud and was mostly covered by 3 cm of the green alga Ulva. It was also downstream from the opening of a freshwater creek. The subsurface (0-30 cm) was dominated by two polychaete families (Terebellidae and Maldanidae). This area displayed the most taxonomic diversity of any of our sites in False Bay. This high diversity could be due to Ulva acting as an abundant food source that would greatly increase the number of grazers, detritivores and carnivores, or as a means of ameliorating the physical extremes of the environment.  This area was also memorable due to a few exciting sightings of nemertean worms, as well as a plethora of amphipods and isopods.  When venturing to the periphery of this area, be careful not to get stuck in the mud vortex.

Click here to get an overview of taxonomic diversity of this habitat as compared to the other three.
Click here to learn about the abundance of organisms or to get a description of organisms found in this habitat.
Go here to learn more about protection, reproduction, feeding, and locomotion of these organisms.