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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.
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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 a little scar. They are hermaphrodites
and mature as males
first changing into females after 2-3 years.
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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
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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.
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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! |
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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! |
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
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Designed by Tara Noble-Singh and Louise Powell of
Squid Ink Productions for Here We Are, Clachan, Cairndow
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