Here We Are :: Loch Fyne

		Common Starfish Asterias rubens Up to 50cm in diameter. Colour variable from orange to violet. Severed arms are capable of becoming new individuals. Fishermen used to cut starfish in half to kill them but were in fact increasing the population! Large populations often invade rocky shores consuming all mussels and barnacles in their path. They eat by inserting their stomach into prey and dissolving the tissue.			Limpet Patella vulgata Up to 6cm long. Outer surface of the single shell is greyish white or ashen, sometimes with a yellow tint. Not too fond of change, limpets always return to the same spot after feeding, and find their spot by marking it with little scar. They are hermaphrodites and mature as males first changing into females after 2-3 years.
		Brittle Starfish Ophiothrix fragilis Up to 20cm in diameter. Colour variable, commonly brown, yellow, or white. Colouration may be plain or banded. Brittle starfish are filter feeders and use long arms to catch passing particles. They make a nice meal for other predatory starfish who like to eat them			Whelk Buccinum undatum Up to 10cm long. Shell is yellowish brown with irregular light and dark spirals. Whelk cuisine has been gaining popularity and they are fished in the wild using modern traps. The majority however are exported to the far east.
		Sunstar Crossaster papposus Up to 35cm in diameter. Colour variable, usually brown-red with beautiful white patterns. Number of arms varies from 8-13. These greedy stars feed on a wide range of food items including the common starfish and even their own species!			Native Oyster Ostrea edulis Up to 11cm long. Cream colour shell with light brown or bluish concentric bands. Harvested and cultured for eating. Despite being a common species their distribution is reducing and the native oyster may even be extinct in some areas.
		Green Urchin Psammechinus miliaris Up to 5cm in diameter. Greenish in colour with distinctive violet tips on their spines. The spines are short and coarsely packed. Green urchins on the west coast of Scotland exhibit strange behaviour and live together in dense, localized populations in sheltered areas of the sea lochs.			Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas Up to 18cm long. Off-white to yellow or bluish grey in colour. Gigas oysters were introduced to Essex from Portugal in 1926 for cultivation and are now farmed throughout Britain. While their introduction in Essex led to the species establishing wild populations, the risk is not thought to be as high in Scotland as the species require warmer water temperatures to breed. They occur naturally in Japan and south-east Asia.
		Velvet Swimming Crab Necora puber Up to 8cm. Shell is covered by short brown hairs providing a velvet-like appearance. These crabs are fast movers and good swimmers. When they lose a limb another grows back! Great to eat, their yummy flavour was only recently discovered.			Queen Scallop Aequipecten opercularis Up to 9cm diameter. Found to depths of 100m. Cultured and harvested for culinary use. Underwater scallops are quite literally �jet-setters�, they travel in short spurts by quickly opening and closing their shells and squirting out water, propelling them forward.
		Common Shore Crab Carcinus maenas Up to 8cm. Colour variable from dark green to orange-red. Capable of learning these clever little crabs are smart cookies and are quicker and more dexterous than any other crab.			Mussel Mytilus edulis Full size highly variable from 2-10cm. Shell colour varies, usually purple or blue but sometimes brown. Mussels are cultured on ropes and harvested for culinary use. Whole beds are sometimes destroyed by large armies or �fronts� of the greedy common starfish.
		Dublin Bay Prawns Nephrops norvegicus Up to 25cm including tail. Pale orange in colour. Usually found at depths of 200-800m but are known to live in less than 20m in Scottish Sea Lochs. Dublin Prawns make a tasty dish and are widely harvested for culinary use, recognise them on the menu as Scampi or Langoustine!			Beadlet Anemone Actinia equina Up to 7cm high. Uniform in colour, can be red, brown, green or orange. Bright blue wart like spots often visible when retracted. The female beadlet anemone broods embryos before releasing them, asexual reproduction also occurs. Sea anemones are benthic, which means they are attached to rocks or the sea floor. When put in an aquarium however, they will often move around until they find a place that they like!
		Sea Squirt Clavelina lepadiformis Up to 2cm in length. Body is soft and translucent, through which the internal organs are visible. Live in groups joined together at the base. Eggs and larvae vary in colour and are visible in the atrial cavity. Sea squirts attach themselves to rocks, stones and seaweed from the lower shore to depths of about 50m.			Snakelocks Anemone Anemonia viridis Up to 9cm high. Grey-brown or bright green, long tentacles often with purple tips, which contain algae living within them. Snakelocks anemones reproduce by literally tearing themselves apart! So one anemone becomes two.
		Lugworm Arenicola marina Up to 20cm long. Colour varies from pink to green, dark brown or black. They dig 20-40cm burrows and leave behind a cast of sand filtered through their tail ends. Lugworms feeds on detritus and micro-organisms in the sediment and are much prized as bait by anglers.