Blue Eyed Hermit Crab

The blue eyed hermit crab (Paguristes sericeus) is easily recognisable by its bright blue eyes and its reddish-orangish eye stalks. Hermit crabs are not really crabs, however they are crustaceans. I have been studying blue eyed hermit crabs recently and I have found out a few things. They are always hungry and they are determined. The hermit crab in the picture has lots of animals living on its shell. It has a slipper snail, barnacles, and a few worms all living on its shell. Hermit crabs also have the ability to grow legs back if they fall or break off. This is called regeneration.

Round-Rib and Zigzag Scallops

 I am putting both the round-rib and the zigzag scallops in the same post because they both look similar. The round-rib scallop (Euvola raveneli) is in the left of the photos and it has no zigzag going through the shell like the zigzag scallop (Euvola ziczac) which is on the right of the pictures. They are hard to find and I have only found one of each. The flat shell is the upper shell and the lower shell is round, not flat.

Spiny Jewel Box Shells

Spiny jewel box shells.

 These are spiny jewel box shells, or Arcinella cornuta. they are bivalves. Bivalves are invertebrates with two shells. You can find their shells separate or together like the kitten paw shells. I have even found a fossilised one. My grandma calls them lion paw shells (to go with the kitten paws).

Fossilised spiny jewel box shell.

Big and small spiny jewel box shells.

Spiny jewel box shell connected.

Kitten Paws

A variety of kitten paws.

 These are kitten paw shells, scientifically know as Plicatula gibbosa. They are common on Florida's gulf beaches. You can find them attached to other shells, in their clam form with nothing on the inside, or you can find just one without other shells or the other side (which is how you usually find them). They are usually small but you can also find them pretty big like the one in the center of the first picture.




A small kitten paw                    And a big kitten paw.

A kitten paw with both shells attached.

Fossils

Fossils are rare on some beaches, but I thought that I should show you how to identify them if you do find some.

This is a piece of a turtle shell, I think that it is a piece of soft shelled turtle shell because it is not completely hard.

These are puffer fish teeth. They are layered unlike most other teeth you might find on the beach.

These are some of my favorite fossils, stingray barbs. The one on top is not completely fossilized and is more fragile than the fully fossilized one.

These are horse teeth. They are bigger than the other fossils that I have already posted about.

These are stingray mouth plates. They are very common on some beaches.

I hope to get more of my fossils identified soon.

Red Tide

Recently, Florida's west coast has been experiencing red tide. Yesterday I went to Lido with my mom and we walked all the way down to a wall that we walk down to. At the wall, there was lots of dead fish on the sand. It smelled bad and red tide makes it hard to breath. The red tide didn't seem to be effecting the seabirds too much, but we were only seeing the birds that were close to shore and not the ones farther out. There were also lots of olive snails stranded near the water. We put all that we could find back in the water. We did not find many good shells that day, or much trash.

Coquinas

These are Donax variabilis, or coquinas. They are bivalves, like scallops, and oysters. They come in many colors like purple, yellow, brown, pink, and lots more. They are very common in Florida. The top photo is of connected coquinas. The second photo is of disconnected coquinas. The third is of a coquina I found in my jar of coquinas. It looks like it has a question mark on it. I have seen hundreds of live coquinas trying to get under the sand before another wave hits them sometimes, and birds get the coquinas when they can.