Sandy areas, apparently desolated, hide a large number of marine species.

The sandy coastal communities house a poorer fauna and flora that rocky coasts, or at least which are more difficult to observe: Everything is hidden. Sandy areas are the home to a large number of organisms that have adapted their lives to remaining buried in the sand.

Among the fish, we see that the sandy areas are the kingdom of flat fish, rays and spiders. Fish with a toasted color and pigmented with small white and dark spots (cryptic colouring) that camouflage so well in the sand that they are very difficult to distinguish. Often the only sign of their presence is a light silhouette in the sand, or two small eyes moving nervously, one on either side. Among the invertebrates are the clams that live more numerously alongside sea snails, cuttlefish, sea stars, sea cucumbers and different crustaceans that hide in the sand.

Furthermore, alongside these the marine phanerogamous are beginning to appear (superior plats) that facilitate the settlement of a whole range of associated fauna, both fish and marine invertebrates, which would find it difficult to live without the ideal hiding place and the resources offered by its existence.

Common sole (Solea solea)

Common stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca)

Other common marine organisms that can be found in this community:

• Tub gurnard (Chelidonichthys lucerna)
• Tubular sea cucumber (Holoturia tubulosa)
• Striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus)