Adult hermit crab walking around. Cape Agulhas, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Body dirty-white with darker speckles and spines. Brown stripes on last segments of walking legs. Left nipper thorny and much larger than the right. About 30 mm. Endemic to South Africa. Extremely common on sheltered sandbanks and in sandy pools. Buries in sand… Continue reading Common sand hermit crab (Diogenes brevirostris)
Tag: Cape Agulhas
Pear limpet (Scutellastra cochlear)
Eroded adult limpet surrounded by its garden. Fishhoek, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Previously known as Patella cochlear, or cochlear limpet. Distinctively pear-shaped, often encrusted by coralline algae. Inner surface white, tinged blue and often mottled with black. Muscle scar is U-shaped and black. Around 50 mm. Large specimens may exceed 70 mm. Lives in… Continue reading Pear limpet (Scutellastra cochlear)
Cape urchin (Parechinus angulosus)
Purple urchin shading himself with the egg of a ray or a shark. Fishhoek, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Also called 'pumpkin shell'. Test round, densely covered in shortish, pointed spines which vary in length but never exceed about one-fifth test diameter.Colour variable, most often purple, but also green, red or pale. About 60 mm.… Continue reading Cape urchin (Parechinus angulosus)
False plum anemone (Pseudactinia flagellifera)
Details of the mauve-tipped tentacles. Cape Agulhas, Western Cape (2020) - iNaturalist Column smooth, orange to red, tentacles red or yellow, often mauve-tipped. Cannot readily retract tentacles or close up. 3-5 rows of bubble-like, orange vesicles and one row of spherules just outside tentacles. 50 - 100 mm in diameter. Found singly, because aggressively territorial,… Continue reading False plum anemone (Pseudactinia flagellifera)
Eight-shell barnacle (Octomeris angulosa)
Old barnacle at the edge of a mussel bed (blue mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis), with the circle of apertures forming at its base. Yzerfontein, Western Cape (2020). Moderately large with eight shell plates extremely rugged, irregular, massive, generally much corroded, steeply conical or even sub-cylindrical. Colour dirty-white, often slightly tinted yellow from the investing membrane, and… Continue reading Eight-shell barnacle (Octomeris angulosa)
Dwarf cushion star (Parvulastra exigua)
Yellow starfish wrapped around algae. Doringbaai, Northern Cape (2020). Previously known as Patiriella exigua and Asterina exigua. Tiny, flattened, pentagonal starfish, with poorly developed arms. Dorsal surface made up of tile-like plates, each with a cluster of tiny knob-like spines. Gonophores on lower (oral) surface.Uniformly khaki-green of the West Coast, but variegated patterns of orange,… Continue reading Dwarf cushion star (Parvulastra exigua)
F*CK FISH 