Nature Observations June 13, 2013

Our friend's 9 year old daughter noticed this holdfast at the beach today. 

She also found the handy big red bucket floating in the ocean :) 

Looking closer at the holdfast, we found some pretty amazing things...

Brittle Stars

Lots of brittle stars :)

Can you tell what this is?

Here's a video of it. Water creatures are best observed in water.

Can you see the milky substance in this picture? 

The brittle star secreted it - not sure if it's a kind of ink or if it's a reproductive process.

Here are some jelly like things Isabella discovered. Some kind of eggs perhaps? 

Click on the picture to look closer. What is that inside them?

Here's a tiny shell. It's almost translucent.

And what on earth do you think this is?! We've been calling it "the thing" all day. What a curious little creature! And it moved so quickly almost like an inchworm; it had quite a little character to go with its fascinating form. And it's praying mantis like in that it cleans its fore-limbs and it's antennae.
Isn't it a bit too large to be considered plankton? 

Found it!!  Do make sure you read the captions on the pictures on that link for a good laugh.