Shallow marine bioerosion at Vardø, arctic Norway

Bioerosion was studied at Vard0, northern Norway. Only those substrates that were composed of carbo­nate (skeletal material) were found to be attacked by organisms. The bioeroding community is dominated by boring algae, which have entered almost every grain. Most surfaces have been rasped by patellid gastropods and some by regular echinoids. Boring sponges, annelids and phoronids are less common, whereas bivalve and, possibly, sipunculid borings were not recorded. The bioeroding community is thus impoverished, in comparison with warm-water communities, and this impoverishment is probably due to the low water temperature.