|
|
 |
Seashore Resource |
Intro | 1.Field
Trip | 2.Rocky Shore | 3.Plankton |
2. Rocky Shore Creatures
Scroll down to find information on these rocky shore creatures:
- Chiton
- Cat's eye snail
- Camouflage crab
- Spiny starfish
- Pipi
- Spotted Whelks
"I am a chiton (pronounced ‘kite-on’). With my strong suction foot and flattened shape, not even the breaking waves can knock me off my rock! I am protected by eight hinged plates so I can … bend…down…or…hump up over rocks. I can tell day from night through light sensitive cells between my plates. At night when it is cool and moist, I creep over the rocks, scraping off tiny seaweed with my special sandpaper tongue." |
|
|
|
"I’m a cat’s eye snail. Like the chiton I crawl over the rocks eating tiny seaweeds, and I have to hang on tightly when the waves crash in. but I’m not so streamlined and sometimes I get knocked off! It’s dangerous, but I usually survive. See how thick and round my shell is. I just pull my soft body inside, shut the hole with my cat’s eye lid, and wait. When things quieten down, I’ll come out, cautiously, and climb back up the rocks." |
|
|
| "I’m a camouflage crab. Crabs are tasty food, so many of us hide from our enemies in cracks and under stones. But not me – I’m a master of disguise! With my nippers I tear off bits of seaweed and sponges and attach them to the tiny hooks on my body. Now nobody will notice me in the rock pool. If I can get a sea anemone off its rock I’ll put it on my back too, for anemones sting, and my enemy the octopus doesn’t like being stung! Not only am I safe, but I can sneak up on my prey! There’s only one snag, when I grow and moult my skeleton, I have to plant a new garden." |
|
|
|
"I’m a spiny starfish. When I crawl on top of a pip or a snail, it’s a GONER! Of course the pipi quickly closes its shell, but I fix my arms, with their hundreds of tube feet to its shell, and I pull – and pull – and pull. Soon the pipi gets tired. Its shell opens a little. Quickly I turn my stomach inside out like a plastic bag, and enter through the gap between the shells. Then I dissolve and digest my meal and crawl away, leaving the shells behind." |
| "I am a pipi. ‘Stay buried, stay safe.’ That’s my motto. Under the sand I’m safe from the waves and the sun and the hungry gulls. Feeding is easy. The sea is a soup of plants and animals, much tinier than me. I draw the seawater in one tube, strain out the food in it and squirt the water out the other tube. See how my feeding tubes are fringed with tentacles to stop the sand getting in. I don’t creep along on my foot, like the chiton and the whelk. My foot is shaped like a tongue and helps me bury myself." |
|
|
|
"I'm a spotted whelk. Me and my family are the beach cleaners and rubbish collectors. We smell the water for the scent of dead or dying animals. Swinging our little breathing hoses from side to side, we work out the direction of the scent, and crawl towards it. Often there is a crowd feasting already, but our mouths can stretch like drinking straws, so we can all join in. This may sound yukky, but we are very useful because we keep the beach clean and disease-free." |
