Rocky-shore zonation in the Santa Marta area, Colombia

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Abstract
Topography, climate, and hydrography of the area are described, Salinity and air and water temperatures are hiooh and stable. The tides are a mixture of the diurnal and semi-diurnal type and the tidal range is narrow. There is little rain and the lowest tides occur during the hottest part of the day. The zonation of nine localities is described and illustrated. The scheme and terms of J.R. Lewis are used, but the major zones are called regions and his eulittoral zone is simply called the eulittoral, The term zone is reserved for the belts of algae and animals found within the regions. In spite of differences between and also within the stations in species composition and appearance a general zonation pattern could be discerned. The following zones were found: in the sub-littoral a zone of algal mat, at many stations with a distinct belt of Sargassum upmost, or a Palythoa zone; in the littoral a zone of mixed algae, often with two or three sub-zones, a barnacle-verrnetid zone, a naked or a white zone, and a spray zone; in the supralittoral a maritime zone. A comparison with other Caribbean localities is made. Despite differences in colour of the zones and partly in faunal composition, similarity exists between all parts of the Caribbean investigated, and the pattern fits well into the world-wide zonation scheme of Stephenson & Stephenson. It is pointed out that more research is desirable a.o, about the development of the algal mat and of the holes with cyanophyceans often occurring in the spray zone. A study of the systematics of the lithothamnia and the vermetids is also badly needed, even from a zonation point of view. A list of the species of algae and animals found at the nine stations and the zones in which they occur is given.