Shoresearch Cornwall Blog: Helford VMCA

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Shoresearch week 2015 day 4, Prisk Cove, Helford, Highlights in Photos

Discovery of the day a rarely recorded species of hermit crab Pagurus forbesii

very different colour to a common hermit

He has a distinctive shaped wide claw which acts like a front door and is right handed!

Beautiful bright green juvenile Ballan wrasse -Labrus bergylta

Ballan wrasse in very different colour variety

Butterfish portrait

Chameleon prawn Hippolyte varians - they can quickly change colour - look for a spike on the top of the rostrum -diagnostic feature

Tiny queen scallop Chlamys varia

Underboulder life - cushion starfish Asterina gibbosa and a small sea ghurkin Pawsonia saxicola

Closeup of a Green sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris

After years of trying Patrick has finally got his eye in and he found two stalked jellyfish in shallow weed filled gullies. here is a Haliclustus octoradiatus - a rarely recorded species in many areas of the UK

And Patrick also found this Haliclystus octoradiatus growing on Sargassum weed.

Berthella plumula - a really cool sea slug - common name - plumed bertha! this one was approx 20mm but they can grow bigger.

A strange worm found beneath the shore - its undulating movement was very bizzare! I have a video...

Im not very good on identifying Chitons - they are cool animals though - a segmented gastropod, next to it is a pink rayed limpet Tectura virginea- the first I had seen size approx 10mm

Heres another - Perhaps a chiton expert out there will let us know what we were looking at!!

Unusually pale colour form of Rissos Crab Xantho pilipes

And two more colour varieties - they are much more variable than their cousins the Montagu's crabs

But my favorite was this juvenile Xantho pilipes which was only approx one centimetre across the shell!

Rivularia atra - a rarely seen blue green algae - was abundant on open rock on the mid shore on the edge of the gully

Shore rockling with some harpoon weed

And just so the seaweed people don't feel left out here is a nice cockscomb!

Visit the Helford Marine Conservation group website for more info on this fabulous local marine volunteers group

Friday, 25 July 2014

Crabs and Critters at Helford Passage

To finish off the Mega Shoresearch weekend in style the Shoresearch volunteers and I drove up to the Helford for a public event called 'Crabs and Critters'. The sun came out and the weather was fabulous. Approximately 40 people joined myself and the Shoresearch volunteers to explore this muddy but highly producive shore on Bar beach next to Helford passage. It was amazing how many species were found and a stream of excitable kids clutching crazy creatures kept myself and the Helford marine conservation group volunteers busy answering loads of questions! Top finds included a beautiful greater pipefish (I think found by Maddie Lydon) some MASSIVE velvet swimming crabs, a very strange looking hermit crab - Pagurus prideaux that lives inside a cloak anemone. Beautiful Calliactis parasitica - hermit crab anemones. Strange jelly like blobs were common in the shallows - I am still trying to find out what these are!

To round the event off in style we were lucky to be able to meet with Lynda and Simon Filmer, local fishermen who showed us a fantastic pair of large brown crabs! It was a great chance to introduce Cornwall Wildlife Trusts new project Cornwall Good Seafood Guide, which highlights the abundance of sustainably harvested seafood in our county. Lynda and Simon talked to us all about how they catch shellfish using pots and nets and we all saw first hand the power of the edible crabs pinch!

Thanks to Jake, Chloe and all the volunteers who carried out a timed species search and walkover survey, and thanks to the volunteers from Helford Marine Conservation group for a most enjoyable day!