Discover the Betey foreshore
Every day on the Arcachon Bassin, the enchantment of the foreshore is revealed to the rhythm of the water flowing towards the ocean.
We may live here on a daily basis, who really knows the little inhabitants who hide in the sand and mud? We all know bivalves such as cockles, mussels and clams, or crustaceans such as crabs and shrimps, but many of these animals that surround us remain totally unknown to us.
However, some of them play a fundamental role for this ecosystem, and sometimes even for humans!
High up on the beach, seaweed and other sea leash accumulate. This is the domain of the Talitres… What!? Nothing too complicated, it's the sea fleas, these little crustaceans that hide under the algae and jump everywhere when you turn the piles. They are there to protect themselves of course, but also to eat them, decompose them and integrate them into the sand, thus promoting the development of salt meadows and dune ridges. It is not for nothing that gardeners collect these marine rejects for their own gardens.
Have you ever observed these sometimes numerous small twists on the sandy beaches? These are the droppings of the Arenicola... but rest assured, they are clean. The Arenicola is a sea worm that buries itself in the sand in a "U" shaped hole. It feeds on the mud that accumulates there. It is used as bait for angling. In the laboratory, we even manage to make it produce human blood! Did you ever imagine that a worm could save your life?
On our beaches, there are many gastropods such as the common periwinkle. But let's have a little thought for the Hydrobies, tiny marine snails of barely 3mm that clean the plants of the salt meadows of the algae that can cover them.
This living fossil is very important for the birds that feed on it, we can count more than 10,000 per square meter!
The Cyclops is another funny snail. If he accidentally finds himself on his back, like a gymnast he will use his only foot to turn around. A scavenger, it feeds on dead animals from the foreshore. It thus prevents diseases from spreading and participates in the maintenance of the ecosystem.
Despite its small centimeter in length, it can sense the presence of a corpse nearly 30 meters away!
All these animals depend on our eelgrass beds, which are currently threatened by pollution in particular. When fishing on foot for leisure, try as much as possible not to walk on the seagrass in order to preserve our beautiful Bassin from Arcachon for a long time.
To live other adventures with Alexandre to discover the Bassin of Arcachon, contact Arès Tourist Office.
To discover the marine fauna and flora of the Bassin of Arcachon.
