Effing Hot. That is the only way I can describe the recent weather. We just experienced three days in the high thirties. We had been so lucky during summer: we had very few days in the high thirties.
When my family asked if I’d like to join them for a swim at St Helens, I jumped at the chance. The weather was still around the thirties/late twenties as the sun was setting. I was desperate to leave the house at this point. I go so stir crazy when the heat intolerance weather hits.
We’d visited St Helens beach before at low tide and I’d enjoyed getting photos of the sea squirts. It was fascinating how different the area looked at night.
Sea Squirts
Most the below species I would classify as Pyura dalbyi. However, I’m seeing what looks like colour variations between them. The first two are more orange toned. The latter are more of an orange colour.
Normally the ones I see are orangeish. I don’t know if this difference is due to the body of the sea squirts being more visible. It could also be due to me completely misunderstanding the current information about Pyura species. The latter images seem to better match the one in the paper. But the siphons are very similar.
Part of me wants to say that there are several species I’ve found that I’m currently classifying as P. dalbyi. It’s more likely that there is a lot of natural variation that hasn’t been properly studied.
More Styela Canopus! This location is interesting as it wasn’t attached to a floating pontoon. The spot was also less sheltered. I’m going to create a page listing patterns with observations now that I’m finding them a lot.
Sea Sponges
Fishes
Awesome Worm!
I wasn’t looking for critters the whole time. At one point though I was walking chest deep in the water when this worm swam past. Unfortunately neither Seth or I had a net or container near us at the time.
This worm was about 30cm long. It was moving so quick that I struggled to get photos. It swam deeper in the water as soon as I got close.
A friend that that it is likely a worm in Nereididae family doing its final spawning swim. I normally don’t get into worms, but it was fascinating to see.
Other
We were also finding a lot of pipefish.
