One of the nice things about Cornwall is that there are so many coves and beaches, that even after seven years of living here, there are still plenty left to discover. This weekend we visited Kennack Sands on the Lizard peninsula. Two fine sandy beaches separated by a small hill and a rocky outcrop in the sea. What I also like about Cornwall is that every rock has a name. The rocks we explored are called Caerverracks. The tide was pretty good, the weather as well (except for a brief shower). The viz however was quite bad, and so I hope to go back one time when the sea is flat to retake some of these pictures. The rocks did offer some shelter though and it was great to be in the water. I focused (no pun intended) on a type of kelp called Furbellows (Saccorhiza polyschides). It is called that way because of the ruffles on the stipe (in dress-making, furbelow is another word for ruffle). These wavey frills help to dissipate wave energy, which of course can be very intense on Atlantic shores. 
This seaweed is much more prone to epiphytic groth than the surrounding Laminaria kelp. This must be the reason why it is always covered with grazing Grey topshells Steromphala cineraria. As with other kelps, it is home to the Blue-rayed limpet Patella pelucida. As the conditions were bad, I was forced to limit myself to a large, abundant and non-moving subject, but it was actually quite nice to work within such constraints. One of my favourite seaweeds and when conditions are better (and when I am by myself, with more time and a weight belt so I can dive down instead of holding the camera down and shooting ‘blind’), I definitely want to try again!
Tag Archives: Gibbula cineraria
more macro rockpooling
Another quick, brisk trip to the rocky shore in my village of Flushing today to practice my macro photography with the 60mm lens. I used the highest F-stop, varied the output of the flash and let the camera decide the shutterspeed and ISO. I did not find anything too special, but the very common organisms are just as pretty as the rarer species. Above and below juveniles of the Flat topshell Gibbula umbilicalis and the Grey topshell Gibbula cineraria on pink encrusting algae. Still not quite used to not having optical zoom as with my old Canon Powershot but quite happy with the shots, especially as all were hand-held. As I am lazy, these are JPEGs with some tweaking using Windows photoviewer. 
Below a Black-footed limpet Patella depressa, a more ‘atmospheric’ shot of a periwinkle, might be the ‘normal’ Littorina littorea but not 100% sure, and a baby Edible crab Cancer pagurus. Really looking forward to go into the water again, but not only is it still cold and grey, it is very windy and choppy so bad viz. Probably another rockpooling post next weekend!
Falmouth Seaweeds August
Last week when I was chasing whitebait off Castle Beach, I also took some photos of seaweeds. I have been taking photos of seaweeds at this same same spot every month this year (I have made a new tag 2017 Falmouth seaweeds, if you click that, you can easily track the changes back in time). Many species are dying off, so it is definitely not looking as pretty as in March or in April. Below some evidence of the decay: first Furbellows Saccorhiza polyschides covered in grazing Grey topshells Gibbula cineraria and second, discoloured Berry wart cress Sphaerococcus coronopifolius and Red rags Dilsea carnosa. 
Below some species that still look healthy: Bushy rainbow wrack Cystoseira tamariscifolia, Hairy sand weed Cladostephus spongiosus, Chipolataweed Scytosiphon lomentaria (not 100% sure!), Polysiphonia and Codium. 
Photography Update
More photography practice lately. I have started to use Photoshop to post-process images, which is hard. I have sat with Thomas Daguerre for a session which was very helpful. For some images, the twiddling is of not much use; the image above of a Bull huss egg case for instance I am pretty happy with as is. Below I have pasted some before and after-Photoshop photo’s. Mostly adjusting highlights and contrast, cropping and playing around with sharpness (in the RAW files), most images tend to be a bit reddish. I have not bothered to tackle the ‘marine snow’ with the Spot Healing brush tool. First, Snakelocks anemones, next, Cocks’ comb Plocamium, then Harpoonweed Asparagopsis armata and an old kelp holdfast covered in feeding Grey topshells Gibbula cineraria.
On and under the seaweeds I encounter many interesting tiny animals, but it is hard to take good photo’s without a macrolens. I have pasted a couple photo’s below (none have been edited in any way): the Stalked jellyfish Haliclystus octoradiatus (these can also be reddish or brownish, and can be found on a wide variety of seaweeds), a sponge, a juvenile Snakelocks anemone Anemonia viridis (next to a Flat top shell Gibbula umbilicalis) and the Star ascidian Botryllus schlosseri where I later noticed the fecal pellets underneath. Pooping tunicates, that is what we need more pictures of!
Finally, some more before- and after- Photoshop images. The first is the nudibranch Rostanga rubra (‘Red doris’) which was only 5mm or so (see also the tiny Daisy anemone in the background). I shot it today, very cold: 4 degrees, and the water might have been only 8 degrees, brrrr! Next, a closeup of the seaweed Osmundea (see the first photo of this post) which shows its interesting pigmentation. The photo’s are nothing special yet, but I notice I am making progress. Excitingly, I just have ordered a macro wetlens and so hope to get some proper macro photography going soon!
Aquarium Update 8
Another long time without a post. A lot has happened to the aquarium and some of what I post here is already outdated, but here goes. My Daisy anemone has buried itself and has not resurfaced but the Red-speckled anemone is growing well. I found the Dahlia anemone I was looking for, but lately it has been pestered by a Purple top shell, which has left a scar on its column, I hope it survives. The most dramatic event was that the Snakelocks anemone managed to kill my Sea scorpion (but not eat it, it was too large). This must have happened when I removed some of the rocks, startling it and make it swim in the wrong direction:
Poor thing (although it had eaten 22 of my mullet so it works both ways I guess…). The good thing was that I could try keeping some other fish again. Using my net, I caught some Two-spotted gobies as well as a Common goby Pomatoschistus microps (I think, there are some very similar species) and a Goldsinny wrasse Ctenolabrus rupestris. The total tally from netting off the Flushing quay is now eleven fish species, not bad. The Goldsinny swims around the tank a lot and does some digging; it seems to be a more interesting fish to watch than the Corkwing:
The Plumose anemones Metridium senile are strange, they can be all shrivelled up for days, be short and squat or all extended. Here three pics of the same individual:
The Turban top shells Gibbula magus are very nice to watch (the Grey topshell Gibbula cinerarea gives a sense of scale). I found a Sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris and decided to try it out. It spends half its time under the gravel and pops up here and there with shells and pebbles attached to it. Let’s see what it does! Lastly a picture of the tank. I had attached a young Sugar kelp Saccharina latissima to the tunze pump with an elastic band and now it has attached itself to the plastic.
aquarium update 2
The large mop of Harpoon weed has been added to the tank (tied to a large pebble). I also added Grey topshells Gibbula cineraria, several hermit crabs, two Sting winkles Ocenebra erinacea and five shrimp. Although being potentially dangerous to fish, I could not resist putting in a green snakelocks anemone and it looks stunning under the blueish light . It is quite hard to take good pictures as the blue comes out too strong (using a camera and adjusting the white balance does not really work either, as the photos turn too reddish).
The Corkwing wrasse is doing fine but is a bit too obsessed swimming up and down one end of the tank (as in this picture). The Purple top shells Calliostoma zyzyphinum are doing well, as they have laid long strings of eggs several times already. (They are a bit weird though; sometimes they lett go of the glass and just lie still down on the sand for one or two days.) The Tunze pump is switched off, as the Harpoon weed catches too much of the current. I’ve had to remove some seaweeds as there is a brown algae that is slowly but surely covering them (remarkably it does not grow at all on the glass). I will do some water changes, but I do not expect this to help too much, and it definitely is not a permanent solution. I need to dunk a bag of Rowaphos (and activated carbon) in the filter compartment, I had forgotten about that actually….I am also thinking of trying out the ‘wodka’ method, more about that later…
rock pooling from the comfort of my home
It was too cold and windy to spend a lot of time on the beach, so I took a closer look at my seaweed catch back home. I was amazed at the diversity of organisms growing amidst the weeds. A lot of them are easily overlooked when rock pooling as you need some time (and preferably a comfortable seat) to find them. Below Bushy rainbow wrack with epiphytic False eyelash weed and Pink plates Mesophyllum lichenoides (I will not give the Latin names of species described in preceding posts for brevity). Some bright green sea lettuce Ulva, a grey topshell Gibbula cineraria, a snakelocks anemone Anemonia viridis and in the middle a bright orange colony of the tunicate Botrylloides leachi: 
I found many large Breadcrumb sponges Halichondria panicea but the picture I took did not turn out to be in focus. I do not know what the organism below is, perhaps a bryozoan (please feel free to comment!). 
I am not sure what this is either! 
Dog whelk Nucella lapillus eggs (I now also notice a tiny brittle star in the middle): 
Egg cases of the thick-lipped dog whelk Hinia incrassata: 
A small snakelocks anemone; interestingly enough all of these were the green variant (with purple tips) and there were none of the pinkish ones. I have read some interesting notes about aggressive behaviors between the two types, something to look into for a future post. 
A Marbled Crenella Modiolarca tumida, a tiny bivalve typical of seaweed holdfasts: 
A tiny White tortoiseshell limpet Tectura virginea: 
I saw something creeping out of the seaweeds on the floor out of the corner of my eye: a small Long-legged spider crab Macropodia rostrata. This species adorns itself with seaweeds for camouflage: 
An Bollenessor 