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Writer's pictureBeth M. Grigg

#81 Big slimy sea boys Badass Adventure



Y'all know I adore looking for treasures on the beach. But there was never such an ick factor as what I saw on the beach this weekend and it took all my bravery to get up close and personal with the sea dudes on my walks.


For whatever reason, the tide was super, super low this weekend. Which meant the expanse of sand with marooned treasures was particularly high.


Every time I go to the beach, I am always surprised with what is washed up. Some days, the beach is filled with scallops, for example. Other times it is an octopus AirBnB, a giant jellyfish resort, or a horseshoe crab convention. You know this from some of my past badass adventure.


This time, the badass part of what I found was definitely in the category of "The Most Ickiest, Slimiest creatures ever to wash up".


FIGHTING CONCHS





There were tons of these giant sea snails. But what made these snails unique is their protective blade-arm. The first time I picked one of these bad boys up to check it out up close, his blade-arm lashed out and literally swept my fingers away from him. And he was STRONG! Good thing I was holding him low to the ground so when I dropped him (his fault, not mine...) there wasn't far for him to go.


Game on. No snail is going to beat me.


I picked him back up, holding him from the back this time, and we had a staring contest of wills. His beady eyes locked on mine and we silently challenged each other to see who would win. Then he squirted water on my face.


He won.



I looked him up when I got home. He's a Fighting Conch. This shell doesn’t get its name from its looks but from its personality. The snail that lives inside is known to be territorial and battle it out with those that invade its personal bubble. Although the Florida Fighting Conch may sound dangerous, it is not aggressive toward other species or beach-going humans.

The Fighting Conch will wave its muscular foot around if they feel threatened. Male Fighting Conch shells tend to get territorial if another male Fighting Conch gets too close. In the past, these creatures have been used in Conch fighting where humans made these creatures fight against each other which could last days to weeks due to how slow these creatures move. Thankfully, this practice is no longer in favor.


Is that not the most snaily badass thing you have ever heard?


COCKLE SHELLS


It's pretty common for there to be tons of giant clam-type shells (apparently called Cockles) washed up on the beach, but I have never seen an occupied one before. Until now.


Whoa...these boys are gnarly! They must have felt that they were relaxing on a beach vacation becaue their shells were open and they were literally flowing out of their shell.


So of course I had to touch them. Sorry for offending any animal activists out there. I couldn't help myself but I tried being as gentle as possible.



The animal blurped himself back into his shell and clamped closed when I picked him up. But not quickly. So I got to touch him and feel the ick. News flash: not slimy at all! Kind of more like a chicken breast. Feels like chicken. Tastes like chicken? (maybe. I didn't try it. I'm not THAT badass).


So fun and gross facts about Cockles I learned:


  1. They can jump.

  2. People eat them.

  3. A study in 1980 showed a correlation between eating cockles and getting hepatitis.

You don't have to convince me. I did NOT eat them and will let these giant, jumping slimy boys stay at peace on their beach adventure.




CROWN CONCH


Found another species of snail-type boys that don't have the blade-arm, but did enjoy stretching themselves out for the camera officially called, I believe, Crown conch. Yes, I did touch him. Yes, he felt squishy and slimy. Yes, I put him down before he yeeted himself completely out of his shell. I wasn't ready to see a completely nude snail. Maybe next time.



When you pick them up and put them in your hand, they slowly slither out of their shell and cover the entire width of your palm with their slimy being.





SPIDER CRABS


There were tons and tons of spider crabs all over the beach, and some of them were gigantic! They were kind of pissed when I picked them up to get a good look. Or maybe they weren't pissed. Maybe they just have resting bitch faces.





Fun facts about spider crabs:

  1. They don't "Crab walk". They walk forward.

  2. They like eating starfish, even when the starfist are bigger than they are.

  3. They love eating dead stuff.

  4. They decorate themselves with algae and shells to protect themselves from predators.


HERMIT CRAB


I found a lot of hermit crabs which I always love seeing.


Want to hear some fun stuff about Florida Gulf hermit crabs? Despite what the name, “hermit crab” might imply, the striped hermit crab is a fairly social crustacean. They have been known to take on hitchhikers, or other small invertebrate animals which glue themselves to the outside of the crab’s shell. Most notable however, is their behavior when it is time to move. Just like a growing child needs new clothes, hermit crabs, too, outgrow their shells and require an upgrade. Unlike some other types of hermit crabs, striped hermit crabs have been known to “negotiate” on moving day, while other species are more likely to attack and forcefully evict other crabs from their shell.


Typically, when negotiating, a pair of striped hermit crabs communicate by tapping on the outside of each other’s shells to determine how they can both move in to better, more spacious shells. Occasionally, however, in a remarkable display of cooperation and patience these crustaceans will form a synchronous vacancy chain. When a small hermit crab stumbles upon a new, empty shell, it first checks the size. Upon discovering that it is too large, the crab sits and waits, sometimes for hours, as more hermit crabs appear, -each testing the empty shell for themselves. The waiting crustaceans then line up. From biggest to smallest, these animals create an assembly line of sorts, waiting for the “goldilocks crab,” or the crab who fits the new shell just right. Once this crab arrives, and vacates its current home, chaos ensues for those waiting as each makes a mad dash for their new shell.


SEA URCHINS


And I found my first Floridian tidal pool. The more I looked, the more I saw. Sea urchins, star fish, little snaily-types. Really neat!




Fun fact about sea urchins: Looking at a sea urchin it is difficult to see how they see. They may not have any obvious eyes in amongst the spikes, but they still respond to light. Recently scientists have discovered how they can see. The entire purple sea urchin body is an eye!

They have a number of genes associated with eyes. The strangest part? These genes seem to be mostly activated in the hundreds of tube-like feet they have amongst the spines. Not only do they move with their feet. They also use them to see.



A few weeks ago, I got to walk the beach right after Hurricane Nicole with my friend Jen. That day the beach was covered -- I mean COVERED -- with scallops and tons of other treasures washed up.


THE GROSSEST THING I HAVE SEEN


I don't even know how to look this up and find out what it is.


I saw a pile of what appears to be expelled sand from some sort of sea creature.



I assumed the tube was a part of a mollusk of some kind that had buried itself in the sand and was happily ingesting sand, eating whatever critters were in it, and then pooping the sand back out. So I dug in to catch a peek at the kind of mollusk the tubie-thing belonged to.


There was no mollusk.



The tubie-thing was a creature to itself. A hard working creature, apparently.


If anyone has any info on this, I would appreciate it. Otherwise, I will be ignorantly grossed-out by the thought that this small ziti-sized being could create such a literal pile of poop.


POST HURRICANE NICOLE FINDS


So many neat things to see...





BRITTLE STARS


There were tons of what I think were "Reticulated Brittle Stars" which are so pretty and delicate. These guys protect themselves by being able to throw off one of their arms if trapped by a preditor.




OLIVE SHELLS


My favorite Olives were happily chugging through the sand.




Nature is truly badass.


It's getting into my favorite season at the beach where I'll start seeing more and more unique stranded sea creatures washed up. Bad for them (and I'll rescue as many as I can) but great for me. Can't wait!




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