Monthly Archives: July 2020

Shells

Posted on by under shells

I started a Cornish shell collection with my children recently. So yesterday we went to our local beach on Flushing to look for new additions. Lying down I took a really close look and was rewarded with a whole bunch of tiny species. On this photo, 14 species comfortably fit on a square inch. Species names in a clockwise spiral:

Bela powisiana

Tritia incrassata (Thick-lipped Dog Whelk)

Trivia arctica (Arctic Cowrie)

Tricolia pullus (Pheasant Shell)

Bittium reticulatum (Needle Whelk)

Littorina obtusata (Flat Periwinkle)

Calliostoma zizyphinum (Painted Top Shell)

Steromphola cineraria (Grey Top Shell)

Littorina saxatilis (Rough Periwinkle)

Tectura virginea (White Tortoise Shell Limpet)

Rissoa lilacina

Peringia ulvae (Mudsnail)

Nucella lapillus (Dog Whelk)

Steromphola umbilicalis (Flat Top Shell)

Hilda Canter-Lund Prize 2020

Posted on by under photography, seaweeds

After posting this photo on the Seaweeds of the NE Atlantic group, I received a lot of positive replies, and Jason Spencer-Hall, Professor at Plymouth Uni and president of the British Phycological Society asked me to submit this photo for the annual Hilda Canter-Lund Photo competition. This award was established in recognition of Hilda Canter-Lund, whose photomicrographs of freshwater algae combined high technical and aesthetic qualities whilst still capturing the quintessence of the organisms she was studying. I am pleased to say I ended up as joint winner (there is always a micro-algae and a macro-algae winner), prize money included! The caption:

Carpodesmia tamariscifolia (Bushy Rainbow Wrack) framed by Himanthalia elongata (Thong  Weed) in a rockpool in Falmouth, Cornwall, U.K.

I took this photo of this stunningly beautiful iridescent Rainbow Wrack spring 2020 at a low tide when this rockpool was no more than a meter deep. This species is a perennial that forms a home to many animals, from sponges to tunicates, and is often used by the Bull Huss to attach its egg cases to. Many seaweed species also grow epiphytically on Bushy Rainbow Wrack, such as the invasive red species Bonnemaisonia hamifera on this photo. Photo taken using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with an 8mm fisheye lens and with a single automatic strobe.

Definitely THE photo competition for me and I hope to get more good shots for the 2021 installment (most probably next March/April). As this post is short, below a photo (taken with my old camera) I submitted in 2017 (I managed to forget about the competition in the intervening years).

Jellies 2020

Posted on by under cnidarians, jellies

The jellyfish are upon us again. Slow and photogenic, I had to go out yesterday in Falmouth Bay to try out two strobes with my fisheye lens for the first time. Unfortunately, the sea is like pea soup at the moment. The wide angle allows for a close focus (getting right up to the subject) so that minimises the problem of low viz, but there still is a problem with backscatter (especially when the strobes are not positioned the right way). Anyway, I had a lot of fun practicing. Although they did not come out as crisp as I hoped, cropping, decreasing highlights and increasing contrast and clarity, made them look acceptable. I encountered a few Compass Jellyfish Chrysaora hysoscella, one with a small Gadoid fish in tow (above). A bit more common were the Crystal Jellies (in the Class Hydrozoa and so not ‘proper’ jellyfish as in the Class Scyphozoa) pictured below. They are in the Aequorea genus but I am not sure of the exact species. The Barrel- and Blue Jellyfish will soon follow, giving more opportunity to practice wide angle strobe photography.

More Macro 2

Posted on by under crustaceans, echinoderms, molluscs

After half a year of strobe troubles (probably a mix of different faults, making it difficult to troubleshoot), I seem to finally have a working set-up again. Although the stalked jellyfish season passed me by, I am now raring to go. I went in today and yesterday and although I did not manage to spot any nudibranchs, there is always something to see. For instance, the White Tortoiseshell Limpet Tectura virginea above, which is very common on coralline algae. Below, the chiton Callochiton septemvalvis (stuck to the same rock as a week earlier), a tiny gastropod, probably Rissoa parva, a Cushion Star Asterina gibbosa, the Sea Ghurkin (a sea cucumber) Pawsonia saxicola and a baby squat lobster (<1 cm). There is currently a large influx of Crystal Jellies, which are not jellyfish but the medusa stage of hydrozoa. It probably is Aequorea vitrina. I have seen several being eaten by Snakelock anemones (slightly too large to take a good photo of with a macrolens). Below a detail. Finally, another, very different-looking, hydrozoan (I have to have a look at the biology of these things some time). It is Candelabrum cocksii, a species which was originally described based on specimens collected from this very beach. (I have posted a photo of this species before, but they look very blobby abovewater). The second pic is for scale. Hopefully a dive sometime soon!