Nature Observations June 13, 2013

Our friend's 9 year old daughter noticed this holdfast at the beach today. 


She also found the handy big red bucket floating in the ocean :) 
Looking closer at the holdfast, we found some pretty amazing things...



Brittle Stars
Lots of brittle stars :)

Can you tell what this is?
Here's a video of it. Water creatures are best observed in water.


Can you see the milky substance in this picture? 
The brittle star secreted it - not sure if it's a kind of ink or if it's a reproductive process.




Here are some jelly like things Isabella discovered. Some kind of eggs perhaps? 
Click on the picture to look closer. What is that inside them?


Here's a tiny shell. It's almost translucent.


And what on earth do you think this is?! We've been calling it "the thing" all day. What a curious little creature! And it moved so quickly almost like an inchworm; it had quite a little character to go with its fascinating form. And it's praying mantis like in that it cleans its fore-limbs and it's antennae.
Isn't it a bit too large to be considered plankton? 



Found it!!  Do make sure you read the captions on the pictures on that link for a good laugh.

Comments

  1. Wow! That is amazing! Have you read Pagoo by Holling C. Holling? We loved it so much my son cried because it was over! Wish we lived closer to an ocean. What wonderful finds!

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  2. Great finds!! So easy to overlook, but you knew to investigate.

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