Diatoms of the littoral zone
Brackish waters
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In
estuaries, salty swamps and most of the brackish waters generally, the
salinity can vary quickly, as a result of the tide, of the pluviometry
and of periods of sunshine. The species which live in these waters thus
have to be euryhaline, that is that they have to support, daily or not,
variations of salinity, sometimes of big amplitude. These species, more
or less euryhaline, have three origins. The some are generally met in
sea (¨marine species¨); others are present usually in fresh
water (¨dulcicole species¨); some ones (¨brackish species¨) are considered as limited to waters the salinity of which is situated between 0,5 and 30 %o
(or in very mineralized continental waters). The species illustrated
below are characteristic of brackish littoral
zones.
Around 80 "dulcicole species" are presented on the website Diatoms of the fresh waters.