Sensitivity of ecosystems When an oil spill reaches the
shoreline, or occurs very near the coast, the phenomena of
soiling and coating in oil can have an impact on the populations
in the intertidal zone and the various human activities which
take place by the sea. Marine birds and mammals are also obvious
victims, such as numerous species of birds feeding on the
foreshore at low tide and nesting on the seafront, or marine
mammals resting on the shore. However, the algae, fish and
shellfish which live in coastal pools, on the rocks and in the
sand or mud, are inevitably affected. Depending on the type of
shoreline, the impact can range from being relatively limited
to, at the other end of the spectrum, extremely dramatic. The
sensitivity of different substrates to oil varies considerably,
from rocky coasts to pebble beaches, gravel, course-grain sand,
fine-grain sand, marshland, coral reefs, and so on. Epithelial
tissue from the gills of a control fish (left) and an
intoxicated fish (right). The intoxicated ti