What do dogs and hermit crabs have in common? I wonder what kind of answers I’d get if I strolled down a typical busy shopping mall and asked random passers-by this question? Well to start with, dogs and hermit crabs have two eyes. Perhaps you could even draw some tenuous connection between kennels and shells. […]
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Marine images of shellfish are not high on the list of glamorous marine subjects. True, most shellfish find it hard to capture attention the way sharks, whales, brightly coloured reef fish and any number of other fascinating marine creatures do though there are exceptions. The first time I came upon a Black Cowry (Zoila friendii) […]
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Tucked away safe and sound in a previously owned razorfish shell is a cute little girl octopus. I know she is female as just outside her protective hideout there are two very enthusiastic males battling it out to join her. When all was done and the looser vanquished she did not however bow to the […]
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This is where all the mollusc action is happening! A top shell (Phasianella australis), closely followed by a small whelk is about to summit the razorfish (Pinna bicolor) while the small abalone and tube shells have made a permanent home there. Not to miss out a few sponges, algae and barnacles have also joined the […]
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I first encountered hermit crabs many years ago on the muddy tidal flats around Darwin well before I began diving. Since then I’ve learned they are everywhere and more than happy to take residence in someone else’s abandoned home. This Hermit Crab (Paguristes frontalis) at Port Noarlunga is both common and comical. This one’s shell […]
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