Mudflat creatures – Gallery

Not many people realise that the mud in the Eden Estuary contains many hidden creatures (known as macrofauna). Even though they aren’t visible at first glance, these creatures have a huge impact on how the estuary works. They work very hard on their homes making resources available for others through a process called bioturbation. This happens through the creatures making 3D burrows in the soil for their homes- burrowing releases nutrients and increases the air in the mud.

Sadly, these creatures are threatened by pollution and litter reaching the mudflats, in our samples we found plastic fishing net.

We have worked on a research project sampling the mud around the edge of the estuary and exploring what lives in these areas. We’ve found hundreds and hundreds of different types of creatures of various shapes and sizes. Below are some pictures of common creatures: