Arthropods · Crabs & Others · Marine Life · South Africa · True crabs

Columbus crab (Planes minutus)

Mottle brown Columbus crab found washed ashore. Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024). Also referred to as Gulfweed crab or flotsam crab. Conspicuous eyes in wide orbits at the corners of the wide front edge of the carapace. First pair of pereiopods - or walking legs - with a symmetrical pair of chelae - or claws… Continue reading Columbus crab (Planes minutus)

Arthropods · Barnacles · Marine Life · South Africa

Small goose barnacle (Lepas pectinata)

Small goose barnacles attached on a ram's horn squid shell washed on the beach. Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024). White small stalked barnacle with a light-brown always short peduncle. Body shelled with thick striated plates. Scutum round and broad, with a ridge so forward that it appears not to have one. Tergum triangular and pointy.… Continue reading Small goose barnacle (Lepas pectinata)

Barnacles · Marine Life · South Africa

Goose barnacle (Lepas anserifera)

Close-up of goose barnacles attached on the sole of a shoe washed ashore. Port Alfred, Eastern Cape (2024). Off-white stalked barnacle. Shelled body flat, triangular in shape and compressed, wide at bottom and narrowing to a point.Shell plates (5) calcareous, not overlapping and with no gaps in between, with orange edges, covered with radiating ridges… Continue reading Goose barnacle (Lepas anserifera)