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Green Shore Crab.

Another one of our sporadic visits to Roa Island occasioned by a relatively low tide falling on a Saturday when we were all free. Roa Island Lifeboat Station and Piel Island.

I’ve reported before that every overturned rock on Roa Island reveals hordes of Shore Crabs. This crab wasn’t even bothering to hide… Although in amongst the rocks and shells it was actually surprisingly difficult to spot. Sponge. Myxilla incrustans? We caught numerous Shannies and Butterfish. And found lots of Starfish and Brittlestars. This is my favourite photo from the day, but also something of a conundrum: the banded tentacles are a distinctive feature of the Dahlia Anemone, whilst the red, spotted body is characteristic of the Strawberry Anemone. So this must be a Strawberry Dahlia Anemone? Sponge. Estuary Sponge? Long-clawed porcelain crab. I think. Common Brittlestar. Ophiocomina nigra – the Black Brittlestar. Possibly. Four-horned Spider Crab. As the tide reached it’s lowest point and some areas of seaweed were revealed, we were able to find lots of small spider crabs, I suspect of several different species. What a lot of these small spider crabs have in common is the way in which they decorate themselves with bits of weed or seashells. Also the fact that they are hard to hold still to photograph, unlike their surprisingly docile larger cousins… Edible Crab.

Something I think I’ve only really fully appreciated since we started to visit Roa Island is the fact that really low tides will always be at around sunset… (..or too early in the morning for us to have made it around the Bay to Roa!)

Strawberry Dahlia Anemone