Supralittoral zone:
- Highest zone, rarely submerged
- Subject to extreme conditions – desiccation, high temperatures, and pounding waves
- Only a few specialized animals (periwinkles and littorinids)
- Lichens (Xanthoria parietina) are most prominent
- Blue-green algae dominate more extreme areas
Midlittoral zone:
- Submerged during very high tides (or spring tides), otherwise exposed to air
- Home to barnacles, mussels, limpets, sea urchins, sea stars, crabs
- Barnacles (Balanus balanoides) dominate upper reaches.
Infralittoral zone:
- Constantly submerged (only exposed with extremely low tides)
- Dominated by seaweeds in sheltered habitats (red, brown, green algae), sea urchins, starfish, snails
Sublittoral zone
- Sheltered areas (not typically considered shore zone): anemones, bryozoans, sea urchins.
- In exposed environments are kelp/algal forests