Coastal Area 13202 Adjacent waters of Tanabe, Shirahama, Gobo

Basic Information References

Reason(s) for selection Criteria

Characteristics References

These are the coastal waters from the mouth of the Tomita River through Shirahama to Hidakagawa River and Enjugahama Beach. The Tomita River mouth is a treasure trove of creatures living in brackish water, with distinguishing features that include Luciogobius palliduse, Taenioides crirratus, Eutaeniichthys gilli Jordan and Snyder, Clithon faba, Clithon chlorostoma, Upogebia yokoyai, and Deiratonotus tondensis Sakai, and in the reefs in the vicinity of Tsubaki and the inner bay biodiversity similar to that of Karekinada and Shirahama can be seen (Itani et al., 1996; Itani and Uchino, 2003; Yamada et al., 2009). Off the coast from Shirahama to Tanabe Bay unfold seaweed beds with high diversity of species, home to sargassum, Ecklonia kurome and others, and there is highly diverse coral in Shirahama's Namariyama Bay and Seto vicinity. Tabe Bay is home to numerous Anomalocardia squamosa, and its intertidal zone is habitat to the rare acorn worm (Ministry of the Environment, 2001). In addition, the Minabe Senri coast and Iwashironohama are important loggerhead turtle spawning grounds (Goto, 1994). The coasts of Kirime and Inami are home to continuous reef shores and pebble beaches, with numerous spiny lobster living on the reef shores and a high diversity of benthic species as well (Kato, personal communication, Nakaoka, personal communication). On the pebble beaches live diverse flat-headed gobies. At the mouth of the Hidaka River are expansive saltwater marshlands and a community of Hibiscus hamabo. Benthic organisms living here include Clistocoeloma sinensis, fiddler crab, Parapyxidognathus deianira, Cerithideopsilla djadjariensis and other rare species (Ministry of the Environment, 2001). Furthermore, in the Hidaka River river-mouth tidal mud flats breed rare fish such as Apocryptodon punctatus Tomiyama, Eutaeniichthys gilli Jordan and Snyder, Taenioides crirratus, and mudskipper, and the presence of Japanese lates has been confirmed here as well (Hirajima, personal communication).