Here come the animals!

I'm very happy and excited about my second year here at the Islay Natural History Trust visitor centre. The arrival of some of our popular tank inhabitants last night makes me even more so. So far we have a spiny starfish, common starfish, sun stars, hermit crabs, lobster (I wonder what we shall name him/her this year) and my favourite the piecrust crabs!

Come to the visitor centre to give me a proper INHT welcome!

Lorna

Sea tank update

Tucking into yummy mussels

Enormous Snakelocks anemone

Mr grumpy!

I can't resist that sea tank of ours, so took the opportunity at feeding time for some closeups!

All the inhabitants are faring well. We have recently added a huge Snakelocks anemone which finds a new spot to suck onto every time we go into the lab! The Bloody henry starfish have dazzled and entertained as they delicately feel their way round the glass, while the Common starfish have been shyly hiding away in the 'cave' recently.

Lorna

Rockpooling at Bruichladdich

Surprisingly there were no takers for the Kilchiaran ramble today. Lorna and I went rockpooling at Bruichladdich instead and have been discovering a whole new world under the rocks we usually turn over and discard as being devoid of life - how wrong we were! Watch this space for potentially yawn-worthy information about sea squirts and sponges! Meanwhile, here's a taster of what you're missing when you fail to look closely or turn over a stone on the shore. Becky

Baby shore crab

Small brittlestar

Myxilla incrustans Sponge

Hymeniacidon perleve (Estuary sponge) 

Sea Sponge/mat

These mating Shore Crabs were not amused when we disturbed them! We quickly left them to it!

Leucosolenia botryoides

Hymeniacidon perleve

Leptasterias muelleri (Northern starfish)

Do starfish have eyes?

An eager Angus ran into the Centre this morning with a burning question which he said he was asking for his friend - Do Starfish have eyes? Hmmm, do they indeed? I didn't know. We looked it up on the internet and discovered that yes, starfish (or, to be more precise, sea stars) DO have eyes, one on the end of each arm. They are known as eye spots, are red, and visible to the naked eye if examined closely (and carefully). This from the marine life website:

"A starfish's eye spots lie underneath its skin, but you can see them. If you get a chance to gently hold a starfish, often it will tilt the end of its arms upward. Look at the very tip, and you might see a black, or red dot. That's the eye spot."

Thanks for the question Angus and friend - I'm away to change our wildlife quiz questions!
Becky

Unidentified starfish - Tom Redman

We are unsure of the identity of this starfish caught and photographed by Tom.  It looks like a type of cushion star (similar to Asterina gibbosa but I am fairly sure it is not that species).  Any ideas anyone?
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