Sable Island: Spits and Beaches

Tide-line Food Chain

Whales, porpoises and dolphins sometimes become beached and die. Others wash ashore dead. Their carcasses provide a feast for scavengers and carrion feeders like these gulls and beetles.

Pilot Whale
Globicephala melaena

Carrion Beetles Silpha lapponica, Creophilus maxillosus
	Herring Gull Larus argentatus

	Decaying seaweeds washed up on the beach are food for thousands of amphipods ("sandhoppers"). These are hunted by Sable Island's largest spider.
*Gammarus lawrencianus*		*Arctosa littoralis*

Surf Clam
Spisula solidissima

Northern Moon Snail
Lunatia heros

Along the shore, breaking waves move the sand around. Animals here must be strong burrowers to avoid being washed away. The large size and hard shells of Surf Clams provide good protection.

Surf Clams filter food from the water using retractable body parts called siphons. They are themselves eaten by Moon Snails, which scrape a hole through the shell and inject poison.

Surf clam with hole

Surf Clam with hole made by a Moon Snail