Coastal Area 13604 Adjacent waters of Ikuchijima and Innoshima islands

Basic Information References

Reason(s) for selection Criteria

Characteristics References

These are the waters in the vicinity of the islands around Ikuchi-jima and Inno-shima Islands and Matsunaga Bay in Hiroshima Prefecture. The river-mouth tidal mud flats in the vicinity of Matsunaga Bay are home to Gymnogobius cylindricus, mudskippers, Apocryptodon punctatus, and others (Suzuki et al., 2006; Shigeta, 2008; Shimizu et al., 2011). In addition, distribution of Urechis unicinctus, Acmaeopleura sp., Xenophthalmus pinnotheroides, Arthritica japonica and other endangered species has been confirmed off the southeast coast of Mukai Island, where parasitic Peregrinamor ohshimai also live (Itani, 2004). Around Ikuchijima and Innoshima islands are valuable because numerous natural coasts remain there, and they are spotted with eel grass beds as well (Mukai, personal communication). Eel grass beds known as Hosonosu are located on sand bars remote from the land in the Onomichi Channel in the northern part of Hososhima in the city of Onomichi, and the waters here do not ebb even during spring tide. They are distinguished by being eel grass beds formed on sand bars rather than in deep bays (Ministry of the Environment, 2001).