Been poking about in rock pools at Westwood Ho! and Woolacombe over the last couple of days whilst down here in North Devon with family, although beach football and ice creams have been strong competition for my attention. Nothing too exciting or unexpected I guess, but then again I wasn't kitted out for rock pooling . Ticks include two different paddleworm species (Phyllodoce lamelligera and Eulalia viridis), a chiton (Lepidochitona cinerea), two fish (Rock Goby and Shanny), a few of the commoner marine snails that I've previously overlooked (including Thick Top Shell, Flat Top Shell, Flat Periwinkle, European Sting Winkle), some funky isopods/amphipods (Speckled Sea Louse and Marea grossimana), Strawberry Anemone and another barnacle (Elminius modestus). Not to mention a few seaweeds.
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I've had me nose in the
I've had me nose in the rockpools a couple of times this week whilst in Cornwall. Have you seen the barnacle Chthamalus stellatus yet? Dead easy and common - tip some seawater over a patch of barnacles and watch them open. Chthamalus stellatus has a neon blue "lip" when the valves open, bit like a weirdly tiny Eye of Sauron wearing bright blue eye-liner!!! Best of luck with it - I anticipate yet more outstanding pics :)
Poli's Stellate
Good tip Seth. All the barnacles I've bothered to look at before today are S. balanoides and C. montagui. These E. modestus stood out today as I found lots of them isolated from other barnacle encrustations and I noticed the odd shape of the plates and that there were only four. Next time I'm on the beach rockpooling in the south-west I'll be soaking me barnacles.
That speckled sea louse is
That speckled sea louse is one cool beast. Rockpooling quite literally rocks.
Skev (and everybody else),
Skev (and everybody else), have you seen any Snakelocks Anemones? Two ticks in one (assuming you saw one with green tentacles) as there is a symbiont alga that causes the green colour! After a lot of internet trawling it appears that the one in Snakelocks is Symbiodinium microadriaticum (that's going on a scientific paper I just read based on Snakelocks Anemones collected from the Plymouth area). This alga is found in Snakelocks Anemones all over the world, whether in The Pacific, The Med or the English Channel. This is POSL at it's best (Pan Obscure Species Listing) :)
Nice armchair tick! Cheers
Nice armchair tick! Cheers Seth :D
Snakelocks alga
Yep - seen Snakelocks Anemone, but does knowing about the symbiotic relationship with some obscure assumed alga after the event count? I will if you have!
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