| Bladder Wrack - Fucus vesiculosus |
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Maximum length: 100 cm. Appearance: Dark olive-brown with an obvious midrib and pairs of gas-filled bladders. Depth: Middle shore. Feeding: Bladder Wrack is a producer. It makes its own food by photosynthesis. It has chlorophyll just like most land plants. Its brown colour is due to other light catching pigments in its cells. Environment: Bladder Wrack grows on rocky bottoms using a holdfast to cling on. It can cope with drying out, using a slimy mucus to cut down water loss when the tide is out. When the tide is in, it uses the bladders to float near to the surface to compete for light. It can survive exposed shores and can grow in estuaries. Other facts: This alga is sometimes called popweed. Can you guess why? Classification: Bladder Wrack is a member of the protoctista group brown algae. |
| Edible periwinkle- Littorina littorea |
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Maximum length: 3 cm. Appearance: Brown or grey spired shell. The outer lip of the opening meets the spire at a tangent. Shell has fine grooves. Depth: Middle shore. Feeding: Edible periwinkle is a primary consumer. It uses a hard mouthpart to scrape microscopic algae from rock surfaces. Environment: Edible periwinkle lives on hard substrates. It shelters under rocks and in cracks to reduce predation and drying out when the tide is out. Other facts: The edible periwinkle is well... edible. After cooking, the animal can be pulled out of its shell with a bent pin. Alternatively, try winkles in vinegar from the local fish and chip shop! It is also one of the commonest marine snails on the shore. Classification: Edible periwinkle is a member of the invertebrate animal group the mollusca. |
| Barnacle - Semibalanus balanoides |
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| Maximum length: up to 1 cm. Appearance: Animal with six wall plates in a low, conical shaped shell. The aperture is diamond shaped with a definite step in the four central plates. Depth: Middle shore. Feeding: Barnacles are consumers. They use feathery appendages to filter tiny food particles from the sea water. Environment: Barnacles are abundant around the middle of the shore. They are adapted to avoid desiccation by closing the plates tightly when the tide is out. Since they are filter feeders, they can only feed when covered by water. Other facts: Barnacles are very specialised crustaceans. Their jointed legs are adapted as filters. Most are hermaphrodites, fertilising neighbours by using a long penis that can reach into their shells. The larvae spend time in the plankton before settling. Classification: Barnacles are members of the invertebrate animal group, the crustaceans. |
| Common Limpet- Patella vulgaris |
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| Maximum length: 6 cm. Appearance: Steep, conical shell with ridges from the top to the edge. The foot (if you can see it) is pale yellow. Depth: Middle shore. Feeding: Common limpets are primary consumers. They scrape microscopic algae from nearby rocks when covered by the tide using a hard radula. Environment: Common limpets attach themselves to rocks to resist drying out and predators. They can live up to 15 years, wearing a distinct groove in the rock that they return to. Other facts: Limpet's eggs are fertilised in the sea forming a swimming larva that then settles in the place where the animal spends the rest of its life. The limpet starts life as a male and then changes sex after around four years. Classification: Limpets are invertebrate animals in the Mollusc group . |
| Dog Whelk - Nucella lapillus |
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| Maximum length: 40 mm. Appearance: A broad, light-coloured, conical shell with thick walls. The spire is short compared to the opening. There is a siphonal canal from the opening to the bottom of the shell. Depth: Middle shore. Feeding: Dog Whelk is a secondary consumer. It is a carnivore that preys on barnacles. Its radula is adapted to drill into the shells of their prey. Environment: Dog Whelks are found on the rocky shore wherever there are barnacles. Other facts: The eggs are laid in clusters and hatch into crawling offspring. Classification: Dog Whelk is a member of the invertebrate animal group the Molluscs. |
