Species

This week’s Species in Focus is the Cornish Sucker. This unique looking fish may be little but packs a powerful ability to latch on to rocky surfaces using its adapted pelvic fins.

The broad-clawed porcelain crab is a charismatic little rock poolers favourite. It is the most common species of porcelain crab found in the UK and can often be found clinging tightly to the underside of rocks below mid tide level.

Our second species in focus features probably the most popular new arrival to our shores in recent years. Well certainly in Cornwall anyway, where this charming little crab is named after the region's patron saint: St Piran.

The Cushion star (Asterina gibbosa) is a little, well camouflaged starfish that is commonly found in rockpools on many of the UK coasts.

Galathea squamifera, the common squat lobster, is a species of intertidal crustacean. Don’t be fooled by the name- these fancy fellows are actually more closely related to hermit crabs than lobsters.

We had just wrapped up our Beach Day activities, tallied up the points, and announced the winners of our bioblitz competition. In the summer months we run a ‘See Our Shore’ session, complete with a mobile rock pool so that the general public can view some of the wildlife we have found. I decided to hang behind in hopes of finding a Spider Crab to add to the collection. We often come across these magnificent creatures in the low shore pools.

The beadlet anemone (Actinia equina) is small red anemone that looks like red circular blobs on rockpools and is found on most UK rocky shores. They only reveal their short tentacles when underwater and use the base of their body as a strong sucker to keep them attached to the shore.

With their bunny-like head tentacles and charismatic expressions, these marvelous molluscs are always sure to bring a smile to your rock pool adventures.

The rock pool shrimp (Palaemon elegans) is very common in our rockpools and is often confused with other shrimp species like the common prawn (P. serratus). P. elegans has a transparent body with dark brown stripes along its carapace and six abdominal segments with yellow and blue banded legs. They can be differentiated from other shrimp species by their rostrum (a long appendage that looks like the shrimp’s nose and has several serrations). P. elegans has a much straighter rostrum than P. serratus with 8-9 serrations, 2-3 are behind their eyes. These shrimp can get to 63mm in length but are usually found much smaller than that; around 30mm.

The Painted topshell (Calliostoma zizyphinum) is a beautiful mollusc that can be found on many sheltered rocky shores in the UK. This mollusc has a distinctive conical shell and a flat base which can reach sizes of up to 3cm, both in height and width! This shell is covered in roughly 10-12 whorls usually with a white base colour that is marbled with yellows, browns, pinks and purples. If you’re really lucky, you might be able to see the snail itself, which is just as colourful. You’ll notice that these shells are very clean, this is because the snail uses its extendable foot to remove any algae – around 2 times every 24 hours.