Rockpools from the top

I tried my hand today at taking photos of rock pools above water – tricky! I used my Leica wide angle lens with a polarizing filter and a handheld strobe in a diffuser. It was fun playing around, although felt my back after an hour or so trying! It is difficult to keep the reflection of the flash out of the shot. The tide was not low so these are small, mid-shore pools dominated by coralline algae and some (fine) red seaweeds. Beadlet and snakelocks anemones, limpets, periwinkles, thick- and purple topshells are the most common animals. Some sunshine and blue sky – let’s see when I can try my hand at underwater photos again!

P.S. two extra pics taken a day later (without flash) near Bream Cove featuring an anemone-eating Aeolidia nudibranch.

Necklace Shell

A quick post as it has been a while…..Last Sunday we went on a walk on sunny Carne Beach on the Roseland Peninsula. The primary aim was to get some fresh air, the second to find some dahlia anemones to bring home to the aquarium (we succeeded in that) and the third to do a bit of beach combing. Nothing much washed up, but we did find a number of live Necklace Shells (Euspira catena). These gastropods hunt bivalves in and on the sand; if you see shell valves with a neat little hole in them, you know they were victims of this predator. They are name after their necklace-shaped, sandy egg capsules (see here).

This one is about as big as they get. Their cousins in the North-East of the Pacific Ocean (Euspira lewisii) are something else though, take a look at this!

Macro Practice VI

The tide was bad (i.e. low and too early to catch it on time), the water was cold and it was very windy but it was good to go for a dip this morning. I now have a different strobe arm which makes it easier to position my strobe, which has often been tricky. Time for some macro practice. The photos are not that special but I hope interesting enough for you blog readers! Above a Peacock worm Sabella pavonina sticking out of an abandoned piddock hole. Below a common Hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus, a Grey chiton Lepidochitona cinerea, a very small Dahlia anemone Urticina felina (note the warty, adhesive column) and some Daisy anemones Cereus pedunculatus.

Dahlia anemoneDaisy anemone Daisy anemone