Sun oyster bed on a Natal rocky shore. Port St Johns, Wild Coast, Eastern Cape (2021) - iNaturalist Previously known as Crassostrea cuccullata. Also referred to as the Natal rock oyster. Lower valve deeply hollowed below the hinge and cemented to the rock. Upper valve relatively flat. Margins of both valves form a series of neatly… Continue reading Sun oyster (Saccostrea cuccullata)
Category: Marine Life
Starred cushion (Iyengaria stellata)
Star cushion alga in a rock pool. Cape Agulhas, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Plants yellow-brown, forming thin, globose cushions of compacted branching tubes, irregularly furrowed and convoluted. Surface covered with knobbly protuberances. Thalli at first solid but older plants becoming hollow in the center. Up to 10 cm in diameter and 3 to 4… Continue reading Starred cushion (Iyengaria stellata)
Green button polyp (Palythoa mutuki)
A colony of green button polyps covering the bottom of a rock pool. Port St Johns, Wild Coast, Eastern Cape (2021). Polyps are tall and only thinly connected at their bases by underground stems - called stolons. Column brown, embedded with fine sand grains, giving a sandpapery texture. Column trumpet-shaped when expanded. The wide oral… Continue reading Green button polyp (Palythoa mutuki)
Toothed barnacle (Chthamalus dentatus)
Toothed barnacles on a rock face. Cape Agulhas, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist A small, flat, dirty-white barnacle with a membranous (not calcareous) base. The projecting, finger-like ridges on the six shell plates produce the characteristic star-shaped outline. Between 5 - 10 mm. Common in the upper intertidal, especially on the South and East coasts.… Continue reading Toothed barnacle (Chthamalus dentatus)
Berry caulerpa (Caulerpa racemosa)
Berry caulerpa embedded in a carpet of zoanthids. Port St Johns, Wild Coast, Eastern Cape (2021) - iNaturalist A mat of rhizomes giving rise to bunches of swollen light blue-green 'berries'. The shape of the berries vary and may be club-shaped, round or trumpet-shaped. Bunches up to 20 mm high. Forming carpets on protected rocks… Continue reading Berry caulerpa (Caulerpa racemosa)
Blue coral-worm (Pomatoleios kraussii)
Blue coral-worm reef. Port St Johns, Wild Coast, Eastern Cape (2021). Also known as Spirobranchus kraussii. Gregarious, building massive blue colonies of interwoven tubes which are calcareous (a feature of the family Serpulidae). Head with two rows of feathery branches and a stalked operculum that has two pointed 'wings' and a flat calcareous cap. Worms… Continue reading Blue coral-worm (Pomatoleios kraussii)
Goat’s eye limpet (Cymbula oculus)
Goat's eye limpet with Ralfsia covering its shell and a little blurry isopod. Mosselbaai, Western Cape (2022). Shell flat, dull brown above, with above 10 major ribs that project from the margin. Interior with a broad black margin and a pink-brown center. Juveniles are yellow, with iridescent green flecks. About 100 mm. Lives in the… Continue reading Goat’s eye limpet (Cymbula oculus)
Brown mussel (Perna perna)
Eroded and less eroded brown mussels in a bed. Old Woman's River, Eastern Cape (2018). Shell smooth and yellow-brown, sometimes tinged with green or with a chevron pattern. Specimens from crowded intertidal beds often very elongated and almost rectangular in cross-section. Submerged, fast-growing specimens are taller and narrower. Up to 125 mm. The dominant mussel… Continue reading Brown mussel (Perna perna)
Grey volcano barnacle (Tetraclita serrata)
Close-up of a grey volcano barnacle. Mouille Point, Cape Town, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Tall, dark-grey and volcano-shaped, with only four strongly-ribbed shell plates, the edges of which are difficult to distinguish. About 20 mm. One of the dominant invertebrates in the mid-intertidal zone of moderately sheltered shores. Two Oceans: A Guide to the… Continue reading Grey volcano barnacle (Tetraclita serrata)
Crevice anemone (Anthopleura michaelseni)
Details of the spherules, and the long tentacles of the crevice anemone. Fishhoek, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Also called long-tentacled anemone. Column with large sticky pads, to which shells and gravel adhere. Dark stripes usually radiate from mouth to the 96 long pink-to-brownish tentacles. Spherules present. Up to 150 mm in diameter, but commonly… Continue reading Crevice anemone (Anthopleura michaelseni)
F*CK FISH 