Typically, the estuarine epifaunal community is dominated by barnacles, hydroids, mussels and oysters,

sea squirts, bryozoans, sponges, dan tube-building animals. These sessile forms attact, in turn, such
slow-moving organisms as gastropods, polyclad flatworms, sea urchins, amphipods, isopods, and
polychaeteles, resulting in dense and often colorful communities. People who fish from piers often see
members of the epifaunal community being preyed on by such midlevel nektonic consumers as the
sheepshead ( arcosargus probatocephalus ) and the blue crab ( callinectes sapidus ). Although coastal
epifauna are commonly associated with rocks and human artifacts such as boats and piers, some
epifaunal organisms build their own colonizing surfaces. These are the reef builders, particularly oysters
and mussels. One of the most typical epifauna communities of estuaries is found on oyster reefs ( fig.
9.3). some epibenthic organisms which occur on intertidal flats are shown in fig. 9.4.

Several characteristics of epibenthic, ichluding reef formatic, are important. These are gregarious
behavior, suspension feeding, and the integration of conditions over time. A sessile adult life-style
normally requires gregarious behavior on the part of larvae, so that successful reproduction can occur.
For example, mature oyster and barnacle larvae settle preferentially near other members of their
respective species by responding to chemical cues or pheromones. Some elegant research by crisp and
meadows ( 1962 ) documented this phenomenon, and pilings covered with barnacles of the same
species attest to its significance, as do oyster reefs of almost solid oysters

Suspension feeding is a primary means of gathering good by sessile epibenthic animals, and the
membersf of the epibenthic community tend to be suspensional feeders. Suspensional feeders must
pump and filter a langer quantity of water to obtain sufficient food of the proper quality. For example, a
single adult oyster may actively pump ( by ciliary action ) several liters of water per hour across its gills.
Therefore dense population of suspension feeders can become food limited in estuarine areas that lack
sufficient circulation, such as at the heads of tidal creeks.

The processing of langer amounts of water by suspension feeders often result in the concentration of
more than food. For example, some shellfish actively concentrate pathogenic organisms such as colifrom
bacteria, hepatitus viruses, heavy metals such as cadmium and zinc, and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Productive cyster beds have been closed in many estuaries for health reasons, and nonhuman shellfish
predators may also be affected by this phenomenon.