Life in the littoral of the Red Sea (with remarks on the Gulf of Aden)

Introduces the Red Sea as an environment, noting the great variety of substrate, topography and degree of exposure to wave action along the coast. Life on rocky shores is summarised, with emphasis on the characteristic species and associations of the different habitat types, and stressing the significance of zonation. Attention is also paid to thalassohaline habitats separated from or barely connected to the sea, eg lagoons and nearshore pools. Productivity and the contribution to the ecosystem of intertidal and shallow subtidal communities are outlined, including comments on benthic productivity, and consumption, grazing and predation. -P.J.Jarvis