Last weekend we headed out to the rock pools inbetween Gyllyngvase (‘Gylly’) beach and Swanpool Beach (very close to the usual Castle Beach spot). Very low tides and lots of sun: perfect! As always there were some critters about that I had not seen before. An Orange-clubbed sea slug Limacia clavigera; quite small as the second picture shows:

Another tiny critter, a juvenile Squat lobster (don’t know which species):

A very cool find: a Montagu’s sea snail Liparis montague. This small fish is scaleless and has a sucker on its belly (like the Clingfish). it looks a bit like a tadpole:

A species I had seen darting off once or twice but had never caught is the Sea scorpion Taurulus bubalis (I have found eggs before):

This species is beautiful but voracious (and so I did not want it for my tank); check out the size of its mouth:

It is expertly camouflaged as well: