Gastropod recycling at a rocky intertidal flat in the Northern Bay of
Safaga (Red Sea, Egypt) is a process of increasing encrustation, chang
ing secondary inhabitants, and probably decreasing shell strength. Enc
rustation by coralline red algae starts in the living gastropods, with
the aperture area staying free of epigrowth. The dead gastropod shell
s are colonized by hermit crabs, tend to be more heavily encrusted and
show encrustation of the aperture. This justifies the description 'pa
gurized' and the conclusion that coralline red algae produce the same
pagurization features as predominantly suspension-feeding invertebrate
s. After the shells are abandoned by inhabitants that carry them aroun
d, further growth of coralline algae leads to rhodoliths, which are so
metimes colonized by stomatopods. Secondary inhabitants therefore infl
uence not only the taphocoenoses of gastropods but also the formation
of rhodoliths.