Report on the molluscan fauna in Tongbatarl lagoon on the east coast of Jeju, Korea

제주 동부연안 통밧알 석호의 연체동물상 보고

In the present study, we surveyed the molluscan fauna in a lagoon located near Seong-san harbor on the east coast of Jeju Island in July 2012. For the survey, a $25{\times}25cm$ quadrat was deployed over 3 randomly selected sites in the intertidal area of the lagoon. Sediment from the surface to a depth of 25 cm in the quadrat was removed and sieved using a 1 mm mesh sieve. All molluscan fauna retained on the sieve was identified to the species level. From the survey, 25 species of mollusca belonging to 2 orders and 16 families were identified. Species richness, in terms of total number of species, was found to be the highest at sampling site 1, where the substrate was composed of coarse sand and some rocks, while it was lowest at sampling site 3, composed of compact fine sand. Regardless of the type of substrate at the sampling sites, the mud-creeping snail Batillaria cumingii (Crosse, 1862) occurred at a high density, ranging from $324-468ind./m^2$. The luciniid bivalve Pillucina pisidium also occurred at a high density at sampling site 1, at $336ind./m^2$, while the density of this species was only $4ind./m^2$ at sampling site 3. The Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum could be found at all 3 sampling sites with very low density ranging from $16-48ind./m^2$. The density and species richness of molluscs observed in this study was lower compared to the previously reported molluscan fauna in Jeju Island, suggesting that further investigation needs to be carried out to conserve the unique marine lagoon ecosystem in Jeju Island.