Tag Archives: Lepadogaster lepadogaster

a very low tide at Falmouth part 1

Posted on by under echinoderms, fish, molluscs, rock pooling

Low tides over the weekend, see the previous post for the trip on Saturday in Flushing. On Sunday the wind resulted in the water being swept up quite high on the shore unfortunately (the next very good tide I will make sure to check the wind a bit better, probably would have been a good idea to have gone to the north coast). Also the rain made swiping my iPhone very difficult and I was absolutely drenched. Luckily I had already taken a long lunch break on Friday when it was sunny! As I found a good number of species I will divide them up over two short posts instead of a very long one. In this post some species that have featured before, but that I now have taken better pictures of: a Shore clingfish (or Cornish sucker) Lepadogaster lepadogaster, a particularly purple Spiny starfish Marthasterias glacialis, a particularly orange Painted topshell Calliostoma zizyphinum as well as a close-up of the ‘normal’ colour variety, Blue-rayed limpets Helcion pellucidum, Seven-armed starfish Luidia ciliaris and a Bull huss (Nursehound shark) Scyliorhinus stellaris mermaids purse. Nice colours all around:IMG_6064

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a very low tide at Castle beach

Posted on by under crustaceans, echinoderms, fish, molluscs, rock pooling, worms

IMG_7884There were exceptionally low tides this weekend so I was quite stoked to get out and find some new species in what is normally the subtidal. It was raining and even hailing quite a bit but we were on a mission! Fortunately, the sun came out later and my jeans could dry up. Sea urchins are not common in the rock pools that are usually accessible at low tide, but they are quite common a little deeper. The same goes for Sea cucumbers. These are hardly ever pretty but the following species is ugly even in holothurian terms. According to David Fenwick it is a Pawsonia saxicola (I have seen a prettier incarnation before):

IMG_7900I noticed a little gastropod which looked vaguely familiar on a Pawsonia when checking my pictures. I could identify it as a Eulimida species in my old Poppe and Goto ‘European Seashells’ book, which also mentioned that many species in this family parasitize echinoderms so that fitted. David Fenwick’s excellent site Aphotomarine has great pictures of pretty much all species occurring here in the Southwest, including a much better one of this Vitreolina philippi Melanella sp (identified through David’s correspondence with Jakov Prkic). David has also just launched a website dedicated to Stalked jellyfish: stauromedusa which looks amazing.

IMG_7891 - CopyAt the end of the ‘session’ I glanced something red, white and blue; a colour combination that I had seen only on photographs before. It was a single, juvenile Spiny squat lobster Galathea strigosa:

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IMG_8010A lot of usual suspects were found as well of course, here a Cornish sucker Lepadogaster lepadogaster and a Shore rockling Gaidropsarus mediterraneus:

IMG_7925The rockling has a groove in front of its dorsal fin filled with hairlike fin rays that are continuously beating. Finally, not a very good picture but I’ve posted it because this is the longest animal in Britain: the Bootlace worm Lineus longissimus can grow up to 10 meters!

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st. agnes

Posted on by under bryozoans, fish, molluscs, rock pooling, seaweeds

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Last Sunday I ventured to the north coast for a rock pool ramble with Matt Slater of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust (see this great blog) and the local marine conservation group (who also have a nice blog). I actually had never rock pooled at the north coast before (shame on me) and so it was nice to see this exposed habitat, quite different from my main haunts at Castle Beach in Falmouth and Trefusis Point in Flushing:

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The rocks were much more bare and the number of animals a lot lower. However, there were quite some seaweeds. I finally saw (the edible) Laver Porphyra spp (probably Black laver Porphyra dioica):

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Another edible species, Dulse Palmaria palmata, was incredibly common here:

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I won’t add too many seaweed pics in this post, but I liked this shot of Serrated wrack Fucus serratus:

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Brown and yellow Flat periwinkles Littorina obtusata (or possibly Littorina mariae, I did not bother to check) where common:

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We found a Shore cling fish Lepadogaster lepadogaster and a Five-bearded rockling Ciliata mustela:

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I found a couple of pieces of a branched seaweed covered in the bryozoan Electra pilosa:

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All in all a good session. I hope to go back soon to take better pictures of the seaweeds!

castle beach

Posted on by under algae, crustaceans, eggs, fish, molluscs, rock pooling, seaweeds

Although cold and rainy on the bank holiday Monday, the weekend weather was glorious (and low tide was ‘low’), so it was off to Castle Beach in Falmouth:

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To me this looks as good as a coral reef! Loads of Harpoon weed Asparagopsis armata, Thong weed Himanthalia elongata and Oarweed or Tangle Laminaria digitata (there are two similar kelp species, but these remain more erect when above water my guide tells me). Also quite some of my favorite Bushy rainbow wrack Cystoseira tamariscifolia shining blue:

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Also iridescent: a tiny (<5 mm) Blue-rayed limpet Helcion pellucidum. Normally found on Laminaria kelp, this one sat under a rock:

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Especially on the middle shore, there was quite some change in seaweed composition, with lots of Ulva and similarly bright green, slimey algae in the rock pools. The abundant Shore clingfish Lepadogaster lepadogaster had been laying eggs under rocks everywhere:

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You can even see the embryo eyes, I am very happy with my olloclip macrolens (although photography in the bright sun is difficult, especially if you do not want to disturb the animals/eggs too much). There were a couple of quite big Edible crabs Cancer pagurus around. The combination of a trembling crab and a trembling hand resulted in a sub-optimal macro photo of its carapace but it is still a neat pattern:

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Strangely (and mostly, annoyingly), the second pump of the aquarium broke down before the weekend and I ordered two new ones. The aquarium has not improved without filtration of course. I will be traveling quite a bit over summer so I will not experiment much with it in the near future.