Coastal Area 14103 Northern Beppu Bay

Basic Information References

Reason(s) for selection Criteria

Characteristics References

These are the waters from the vicinity of Toyooka deep in Beppu Bay to the Port of Morie. The tidal mud flats in the vicinity of the Kobukae fishing port are home to abundant rare shellfish including Platyvindex sp., Serratina capsoides and others in addition to fiddler crabs and Uca lactea lacteal. At the Maehama tidal mud flats in the vicinity of the mouth of the Yasaka River in Morie Bay live the rare species of Japanese horseshoe crab and small-scale whiting. A distinguishing feature of these waters is their abundance of species seen only rarely in other areas, such as Chaetopterus variopedatus, common Orient clam, Phacosoma japonicum, and Macrophthalmus abbreviatus. The saltwater marshlands at the mouth of the Yasaka River are rich in Ellobium chinense. The vicinity of the mouth of the Yasaka River is visited by snipe and plover, with comparatively large numbers of species and populations during the spring and fall migrations and wintering here. At least 0.25% of the minimum estimated population of black-bellied plover, lesser sand plover, and dunlin have been recorded here. Little curlew, common redshank, and Far Eastern curlew have been recorded here as well. Small-scale whiting live on the Buzen coast and in northern Beppu Bay (Ministry of the Environment, 2001). In addition, the rare species Pyropia tenera (designated an endangered species by the Ministry of the Environment) has been confirmed to inhabit the area of the Amamura River mouth (Ito et al., 2014).