Commensal Organisms
View allAll Photos Tagged brittlestar
At St Abbs there was a 100% coverage of brittle stars and serpent stars. It had been a long time since I had seen so many.
One from the archives. Taken at St Abbs.
Brittle stars, an alternate common name is the 'serpent stars', are a species-rich class of echinoderms with outstanding regenerative abilities. Living under rocks or in crevices with only the tips of the arms exposed, they are known to be seafloor ecosystem engineers. They reshape the seafloor sediment surface and influence the distribution of other seafloor species. They also provide nutrition to fish, sea stars and crab predators.
Their presence in a sediment sample is one indicator of a healthy benthic community. They embody nature's fragility and resilience.
Shot from the Three Pools shoreline during low tide.
The light spectrum in the (neighbor's) aquarium corresponds to daylight at a depth of 14 meters. This is why the "Green Brittle Star" appears blue.
I like it better this way than in its natural color. :-)
So many hiding places on a reef. You see so much more if you go slowly. I look into the vase and barrel and tube sponges--most are empty, but a find like this is not uncommon.
Brittlestar says it best (go ahead and watch - it's only a 1 minute video): There are four seasons in Canada: Summer, Autumn, Winter and Betrayal.
Some folks consider 4 seasons to not be granular enough, and have proposed up to 11:
CANADA'S 11 SEASONS
Winter
Fool’s spring
Second winter
Spring of deception
Third winter ⬅ WE ARE HERE
Mud season
Actual spring
Summer
False autumn
Second summer (1 week only)
Actual autumn
I'm looking forward to mud season. Bring it on!
Clean water, but no sunshine pushed me to shoot some macro. Great finds as I scoured the reef for small stuff. I pulled off some abstract work with this island kelpfish hiding in the red-rust bryozoan.
Cayucos, California
I am frequently amazed at how well intertidal animals blend in with their surroundings, but I am equally amazed at how others stand out. This one has both qualities. But I DID see it move past a bright red-orange bryozoan colony that gave me pause just while I was questioning the bright color of the central disc.
One of a few shots taken from the cottage we stayed at on the outskirts of Strontian , took a number of shots over the week - different times of day and different weathers . Mostly it was wet and murky but there was the odd sunny bit as in a previous post here on flickr . For this shot it was taken in the evening . There was an A road ( A861 ) in front of the cottage and would you believe it had passing places as it was so narrow !!
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Strontian (/strɒnˈtiːən/;
Scottish Gaelic: Sròn an t-Sìthein) is the main village in Sunart, an area in western Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, on the A861 road. Prior to 1975 it was part of Argyllshire. It lies on the north shore of Loch Sunart, close to the head of the loch. In the hills to the north of Strontian lead was mined in the 18th century and in these mines the mineral strontianite was discovered, from which the element strontium was first isolated.
The village name in Gaelic, Sròn an t-Sìthein, translates as the nose [i.e. 'point'] of the fairy hill, meaning a knoll or low round hill inhabited by the mythological sídhe. The nearby hamlets of Anaheilt, Bellsgrove, and Upper and Lower Scotstown are now generally considered part of Strontian, with Polloch several miles away on the terminus of the road to Loch Shiel. Strontian is the location of Ardnamurchan High School, the local fire station, police station and other facilities.
Loch Sunart (Scottish Gaelic Loch Shuaineart) is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Sunart is bounded to the north by the Sunart district of Ardnamurchan and to the south by the Morvern district. At 31 kilometres (19 mi) it is the longest sea loch in the Highland local government area. The maximum depth of the loch is 124 metres east of Càrna near the entrance to Loch Teacuis. Other islands in the loch include Oronsay, seaward of Càrna, Risga, which lies between the two larger islands, and Eilean Mòr, which lies towards the landward end of the loch in line with Beinn Resipol.
Dramatic Scenery at Loch Sunart - geograph.org.uk - 1659920.jpg
A considerable part of the loch is leased for aquaculture, with fish farming, originally only of salmon but now somewhat diversified, being established in the 1980s.
A local legend holds that the absence of resident swans in Loch Sunart is the result of a doomed love affair between a Celtic chieftain and a local girl. When his mother, who opposed a marriage, turned her into a swan to thwart their love, the young man accidentally killed the swan while hunting. On learning of the swan's real identity he killed himself to join the swan at the bottom of the loch, which swans supposedly have shunned ever since.
In 2014 the entire loch (an area of 4,900 hectares (49 km2)) was declared a Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA), to protect features including flame shell beds and Leptometra celtica population. Serpulid beds are also present here, as are organisms such as sponges, starfish and brittlestars.The MPA is designated a Category IV protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Within the MPA the use of fishing gear is generally prohibited, although creeling is permitted in certain parts of the loch.
The loch also forms part of a larger (74,100 hectares (741 km2)) NCMPA, entitled Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura, which extends to include the Sound of Mull, the Firth of Lorne and the Sound of Jura. This MPA has been designated to protect the population of common skate and the area's quaternary geological features.
Some creatures fell victim to Hurricane Dorian. This Brittle Star washed ashore at Litchfield Beach, one of many we saw. One we were able to return to the sea, but not this one.
On a bed of Common Brittlestars (Ophiothrix fragilis) which form a writhing mass on the sea bed at 30m in the North Sea off St. Abbs Head, Eastern Scotland
I think this is a Small Brittlestar, can anyone confirm please, I have never seen one before. It was, unfortunately, dead but I put it back in a pool afterwards, just in case. It was in a sandy tidal pool.
If you blow an eyelash off your finger--or--see a falling star... your wish will come true? What happens in this situation?
This was fun to do, albeit stressful! All taken down at Castle Beach, Falmouth. The white background was achieved by using a white bucket and then removing any particles in the water during post as it was impossible to achieve in the field. All the species were handled as little as possible and with care before being released.
Species are as follows,
Top left - Common Brittlestar, Ophiothrix fragilis
Top right - Shore Clingfish, Lepadogaster lepadogaster
Bottom left - Common Prawn, Palaemon serratus
Bottom Right - Common Squat Lobster, Galathea squamifera