Description
West of Primero, there is a wide area of shallow waters with a system of sand bars on the seaward side and an extensive tidal plain towards land. The sandbank, which dries at low tide, is constantly changing; in 100 years, it has changed its superficial form, drawing closer to the coast and simultaneously moving more and more to the west. The sea has flooded part of the old deltaic deposits of the Isonzo, and also the more recent ones, and is currently modelling its form on basis of the prevailing currents and wave motion. The inner part of the sandbank is covered by a large bed of seagrass offering a feeding site for many water birds like the widgeon, the red-breasted merganser, the godwit and others. The eastern part of the sandbank takes the name of “baroso” from the tufts (“bari”) of the submerged plants. The western part continues with the tourist beaches and the old town of Grado which borders directly with the open sea at a point terminating in a seawall called “el reparo” to combat marine erosion. The area of sea just offshore covers a small residual area of posidonia near the rocks of Sant’Agata and San Gottardo, at a depth of 3-4 metres. The posidonia oceanica used to extend from Punta Sdobba to Punta Tagliamento while now, for various reasons associated with pollution, fishing and water turbidity, it is confined only to this part, the northernmost of the Adriatic. The posidonia has been replaced especially by more tolerant species such as Cymodocea nodosa.
Fish
The eel is a member of the family Anguillidae. In some parts of Italy the large female (measuring up to one and a half metres in length) is called a...
The common lobster is a ten-legged crustacean of the family Nephropidae and looks very much like scampi. It has two large, asymmetrical claws at the...
This cephalopod mollusc has a long, cylindrical body. Two rhomboid fins run down the animal’s sides for its entire length to the base of its sac....
This long and quite unmistakeable crustacean is a member of the family Squillidae and can grow to a maximum length of 20 cm. The body is covered in a...
The grey mullet is a member of the family Mugilidae, which includes some eighty species of fresh- and salt-water fish. The grey mullet is...
The grass goby is a common fish in shallow coastal waters, estuaries and brackish lagoons, on muddy bottoms hosting seagrass meadows, their ideal...
The blotched picarel is a member of the family Sparidae. It is a hermaphrodite species, so that all the young under two years of age are female,...
Whiting is a common cold-water fish and is a member of the family Gadidae. Its body is entirely covered with small scales. The whiting resembles the...
The striped seabream is a member of the family Sparidae, which also includes the common two-banded seabream, the gilt-head bream and the salema, all...
The curled octopus is a mollusc of the family Octopodidae and has no particular preferences as regards substrate, although it appears more widespread...
This bivalve mollusc measures around 5-9 cm and filter-feeds on plankton and organic micro-particles. It is very common throughout the Mediterranean,...
The gilt-head bream is a bony member of the family Sparidae and can be found in the sea and in brackish coastal waters. The name comes from the...
The common Pandora is a member of the family Sparidae with a slim, oval, laterally compressed body that can reach 60 cm in length. The colouration...
This flounder has a flat, compressed body that can grow up to 50 cm, although it commonly reaches 20-25 cm. Both eyes are on the right of the body...
The white seabream is the most common type of seabream in the Mediteranean and can be found on both sandy and rocky bottoms. It has a high, laterally...
This small, pelagic fish is a member of the family Clupeidae (that includes the herring). It is very common in the Mediterranean and has gregarious...
The red scorpionfish lives at a depth ranging from just a few metres to 400 m. It prefers rocky bottoms covered with algae or Posidonia and in any...
The cuttlefish is a carnivorous and predatory cephalopod mollusc and can reach a length of around 40 cm, with the oval body being dorso-ventrally...
The mackerel, measuring 25-30 cm, is a typical blue fish and an omnivorous, streamlined pelagic predator that lives in large shoals. Its colouring...
The sole is a flatfish with an oval and extremely compressed body. The head is small with a rounded face and small, arched mouth positioned...
The Atlantic horse mackerel is a gregarious fish with a long, slim body free of finlets. It has a grey to silver underside, while the dorsal area is...
Vegetation
Seagrasses are flowering plants just like those growing on the land, except that they have become adapted to life permanently under water. Unlike...
Habitats
Areas normally above the water in a lagoon are called barene or salt marshes and are characterised by halophilic vegetation typical of...
These form the natural separation between lagoon and sea. Unlike the salt marshes, which are muddy or silty, the barrier islands are sandy and...
The coastline that once upon a time (until the 1920s) used to change naturally in response to the rise and fall of the sea level and sedimentation...
The lagoon system of FVG extends between the mouth of the Isonzo and that of the Tagliamento. Compared to its “big sister”, the...
One of the largest and most vital underwater meadows of the Gulf lies in front of the mouths of the Isonzo. These are plants with ribbon-like...
The areas regularly submerged by the high tide that are revealed when the sea retreats are called the tidal flats. In Friuli Venezia Giulia, these...
Birds
85-100 cm, sexes similar. White plumage, yellow beak which becomes black in the breeding season. Present throughout the year, it does not, however,...
84-102 cm, sexes similar. All year round, nesting in colonies in lagoon groves and other wooded areas inland. Nesting has been noted since 1999. Very...
19-21 cm, sexes similar. There is a grey variety and a rufous one. It is a small owl with ear tufts and a characteristic and insistent song. Present...
39-44 cm, sexes similar, White and black with red-orange beak and reddish legs. Present all year round, a recent phenomenon is that during wintering,...
23-28 cm, sexes similar. With well-camouflaged streaked brown plumage, it has a long beak and a characteristic zig-zag flight. Present from July to...
37-43 cm, sexes similar, light grey upperparts, white in the lower parts, with a black cap and a tuft on the head, the beak black with light-coloured...
30-35 cm, sexes similar. Dark above and white lower parts. Aggregates in flocks offshore from spring to autumn; it does not nest here and its...
48-57 cm, sexes similar. Brownish with a long curved beak. Present throughout the year but does not nest. Forms flocks during high tide on sandbars...
37-45 cm, sexes similar. Brownish with curved beak, shorter than the curlew, and with characteristic dark streaks on the head. Present during...
140-160 cm, white, grey in juveniles, tubercle at the base of the beak, most evident in males. Present throughout the year, numerous at river mouths...
10-11.5 cm, sexes similar. A small tit with characteristic white patch on the nape. Present all year, it nests in the pinewoods of the Carso and...
51-62 cm, an elegant duck with long neck and, in the male, long central tail feathers. A wintering species, it frequents tidal flats, the restored...
38-43 cm sexes similar, grey with white wing bands. Present throughout the year, it commonly nests in the groves of the lagoon islands and in...
77-94 cm, sexes similar. Like pelicans and boobies, they have the 4 fingers joined by a membrane to facilitate swimming. The species is present...
17-19.5 cm, sexes similar. The largest of the plovers. It is similar to the smaller plover but more massive with bolder markings and a-coloured wing...
15.5-18 cm, sexes similar. Beige upperparts with black stripes on the head and chest, white beneath. Present from March to September, it nests along...
15-16 cm, the male with grey head and white throat in the cinerocapilla subspecies, yellow belly, long tail with white outer feathers. During...
42-50 cm, the male with a characteristic white spot on the wing coverts. A very numerous wintering species from September to March, some individuals...
36-42 cm, sexes similar. Sooty black in colour with white beak and frontal shield. It runs over the water to take flight. Present throughout the...
21-25 cm, sexes similar. This is the smallest of the terns, and has a very high rate of wing beats. It fishes with continuous hovering movements...
15-17 cm, the male with a rufous neck and black stripes visible on the top and sides of the chest. The female has the same pattern but in grey....
35-39 cm, sexes similar. In February, it gains the dark brown cap for the breeding season, which it then loses in July-August. Present throughout the...
37-40 cm, sexes similar. Compared to the black-headed gull, the beak is more massive and coral-red, it has a black head – during nesting – and...
52-58 cm, sexes similar. Grey upperparts, white lower parts. Present throughout the year and abundant, nesting in the lagoon, on the roofs of houses...
27-31 cm, sexes similar. Dark with tail in part white and red and yellow beak. Present throughout the year, it nests in freshwater and brackish...
55-65 cm, sexes similar. White plumage with long feathers on the neck and back during the breeding season. Present throughout the year round, nesting...
40-46 cm, sexes similar. It is smaller than the black-headed gull. Present from November to April, numerous in some winters, it frequents the sea,...
50-60 cm. With marked dimorphism, this is the ancestor of the domestic duck. Present throughout the year, it is very adaptable, frequenting both...
37-44 cm, sexes similar. It has several colour morphs, a dark one – almost totally dark brown – and a light one with dark cap and whitish...
68-78 cm, sexes similar. It has a short tuft that appears in adults in winter and early spring. Present throughout the year, it becomes rare in...
17-19 cm, sexes similar. Blue upperparts, red underparts with large, dark beak dark and very short tail, which in flight makes it resemble a...
51-58 cm, dark plumage, black in the male, with distinctive white speculum. Present during the winter and migration at sea and in the deeper lagoon...
30-34 cm, sexes similar. Grey above, whitish beneath, slightly upturned and relatively large beak. Present throughout the year, scarce from mid-May...
24-27 cm, sexes similar. Grey-brown uppers, lighter beneath with evident white bar on the wings, darker in breeding season; red beak and legs....
17-21 cm, sexes similar. Characteristic black belly and rufous uppers, grey in winter. It is the most numerous wader during wintering and forms large...
18-31 cm, sexes similar. Light grey uppers and white lower parts, the beak shorter than the similar sandpiper. Present from August to May, it does...
18.5-21 cm, dark and mottled with lighter colour on uppers, lighter underneath. Present from March to September, rare in June, does not nest. It...
18 to 20.5 cm light brown uppers. white on the lower parts. The wings have a narrow light-coloured bar and are often blocked briefly in flight....
33-41 cm, sexes similar. Grey brown, with whitish underparts during wintering, red in breeding season. Long and slightly upturned beak. Present...
26-29 cm, sexes similar. Grey plumage, black and white on the under parts during the breeding season. Grey in winter with characteristic black...
48-56 cm, sexes similar, plumage varies widely, generally brown with light patches. Present all year round, most numerous even in the largest lagoon...
23-26 cm, sexes similar. Grey under parts, brown stripes on uppers, long, curved beak. Present throughout the year, it is more numerous in winter and...
Bucephala clangula (local names: moro, moreto, quatro oci) 40-48 cm, the male with a black head and characteristic white patch below the eyes....
17-21 cm, sexes similar. Black upperparts, red throat and whitish belly. Present from March to April and from September to October, it nests in rural...
52-58 cm, the male with dark green head and white neck, the female with reddish head. Present during wintering, it is frequent during the spring...
34-37 cm, sexes similar. Light grey upperparts and white underparts, with black cap and red beak. It is the classic tern, frequent from April to...
63-75 cm, sexes similar. In winter the plumage is dark grey above, whitish underneath; the beak is more massive and held flat compared to the...
55-67 cm, sexes similar. In winter, the plumage is grey, and whitish underneath. Present in winter at sea and in the deepest areas of the lagoons....
85-97 cm, sexes similar, the adults being black and white and juveniles all black: this is the largest seabird normally observed in the...
46-51 cm, sexes similar. Grey upper part, whitish beneath, while in its nuptial plumage it reveals obvious tufts on the head and below the eyes....
28-34 cm, sexes similar. Grey and off-white in winter, in March it has a black neck and a yellow tuft behind a red eye. Present from August to April,...
29-33 cm, sexes similar. Plumage light beige with black collar. Present all year round, often associated with human settlements in cities, towns and...
29-33 cm, sexes similar, blackish breeding plumage, after which it becomes whitish below and grey on the upperparts, thin beak and orange legs. It...
15-16.5 cm, sexes similar. Reddish brown upperparts, and light in underparts. Present from April to September. It nests in coastal and riparian...
13-14 cm, sexes similar. Reddish brown plumage, loud, crackling song, especially when a human intrudes on the territory of a male. Present throughout...
55-65 cm, white in appearance with a dark red beak with tubercle in the male. Present throughout the year, it frequents areas subject to tide and...
