The endolithic community inhabiting vacated Zirfaea Crispata (L.) burrows

A study of the eulittoral, endolithic fauna of the vacated Zirfaea erispata burrows was undertaken from September 1978 to February 1979 at Cape Blomidon in the western Minas Basin, N.S. This study, the first research of endolithic communities on the eastern Canadian coast, involved flushing of the pholad burrows and identifying the fauna collected. Of the organisms collected, 5 taxa were studied: Cnidaria, Mollusca, Crustacea, Echinodermata, and Hemichordata. From the 385 specimens collected, 46 species were identified. Five species were new records for the Minas Basin. The organisms found showed a tendency to be concentrated in the lower eulittoral zone and sublittoral fringe. A statistical test, Kendall's Coefficient of Associations, showed a relationship between the sample stations in the order 3-4-5-6-7. The results of a con- current study by Waugh (1979) of the same burrows, but of different phyla, is incorporated as an Appendix listing the 88 species found in these burrows.