Coastal Area 12901 Western Suruga Bay, Cape Omae, Enshu Sea coast

Basic Information References

Reason(s) for selection Criteria

Characteristics References

These are the waters from the vicinity of the mouth of the Abe River through Cape Omae to just before Cape Irago. In the vicinity of the mouth of the Abe River and the mouth of the Ohi River are riverbed ecosystems unique in the Japanese archipelago. Luciogobius fonticola have been discovered in the area of the mouth of the Abe River, and so far these have been discovered only in the riverbed water of the mouths of the Abe River and the Ohi River. In the riverbed waters in the areas of the mouth of the Ohi River unique endemic groundwater organisms can be seen such as Phreatodytes haibaraensis and others. In addition, numerous migratory animals (Japanese eel, ayu, freshwater goby, dusky tripletooth goby, freshwater prawn and others) live in both rivers, and the mouth areas are where the fry and young of these species pass from the sea to the rivers (Kanekawa and Sakai, 2009; Kato et al., 2010). In addition, the coast from the mouth of the Oi River to the Sea of Enshu is important as the waters in front of a loggerhead turtle spawning ground (Kamezaki, 2012; 2013, Omotehama Network, 2008; Tanaka, 2013 ). The shore zone from the mouth of the Tenryu River to the tip of the Atsumi Peninsula is home to extensive continuous sandy beach ecosystems interspersed with river mouth areas, important as a typical representative of sandy beach ecosystems in Japan in light of its size and for other reasons (Suda, personal communication). Among these sandy beach ecosystems, only the coast in the vicinity of Cape Omae is home to seaweed communities consisting mainly of kombu kelp and Sargassum fulvellum (Ministry of the Environment, 2001). The sandy beach ecosystems of these waters have been confirmed to be inhabited by many species endemic to coastal regions, including Intybia takaraensis, Idisia ornata, and Aphela gotoi as genuine coastal insects and Hypocaccus varians, Trichiorhyssemus asperulus and others as species that frequent the coast (Sunose et al., 1999).