Coastal Area 14407 Adjacent waters of Yakushima Island

Basic Information References

Reason(s) for selection Criteria

Characteristics References

These are the coastal waters of Yakushima Island. The sandy beaches and shallow waters on the west side of Yakushima are the beaches with the highest density of loggerhead turtle spawning in the northern Pacific, and they also may be breeding grounds for loggerhead turtles (Kamezaki, 2012). There is a very high diversity of coral species in the vicinity of Kurio and Tsukazaki on the south side of Yakushima Island. In addition, mangroves grow at the mouth of the Kurio River, which is habitat to Kandelia obovata as well. This is a rare site where mangroves are distributed and geographically rare as a mangrove forest as well (Ministry of the Environment, 2001). Yakushima also is home to very diverse species of fish. This is a very important region due to its remarkably high diversity of coastal fish in the area where the Kuroshio Current flows and due to its importance for a biogeographical understanding of the Kuroshio Current on the spread and separation of fish species (Motomura and Matsuura, 2010; Matsunuma et al., 2011; Yoshida et al., 2011; Motomura and Aizawa, 2011; Murase et al., 2011; Matsuura, 2012). At the northeastern tip of Yakushima, Inakahama, and Nagatahama there are gently shelving shallow sandy beaches where shellfish typical of sandy beach ecosystems, such as Cyclosunetta concinna, Dosinia juvenilis, and others are plentiful (Kato, personal communication).