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****Coastwalk North Carolina****

Official Painting of the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge

Other Marine Life

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Cnidaria

Porifera

Chordata

Mollusks

Arthropods

Worms

Bryozoans

Miscellaneous

Porifera: Sponges

Sponges found at Huntington Beach State Park, Murrells Inlet, SC, 01/31/07. The one on the right is the red beard sponge, Microciona prolifera

Sponges found on Edisto Beach, SC, 01/19/07

Sponges

Excurrent pore, oscula, of sponge found on 01/31/07

Cnidaria: Anemones, Jellyfish, Hydroids and Corals

Sea Anemone

Sea Anemone

Sea Anemone

Bunodosoma cavernata, warty sea anemone, Sunset Beach, NC, 05/01/07

Spider crab on sea anemone

Sea onion anemone, probably Paranthus rapiformis, 11/17/06, Sunset Beach, NC

Sea onion anemones, Paranthus rapiformis

Sea Anemone

Sea Anemone, Calliactis tricolor

Australian Spotted Jellyfish, an invasive, nonindigenous species, Sunset Beach, NC, 10/26/07 -- approx. 29 inches wide. Each flip flop is 10 inches wide

Portuguese Man-o'-War, Physalia physalis, Sunset Beach, NC, 10/26/07 -- approx. 17 inches wide. Flip flop is 10 inches wide

A Siphonophore called Porpita or "Blue Button." L top; R bottom; hundreds were on Ocean Isle Beach & Sunset Beach after Hurricane Charley

Cannonball or Cabbage Head Jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris

Mushroom Cap Jellyfish, Rhopilema verrilli, upside down

Moon Jellyfish, Aurelia sp. with six gonads, Sunset Beach, NC, 11/08/11

Moon Jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, bell side up, Sunset Beach, NC, 11/08/11

Moon Jellyfish, Aurelia aurita -- upside down with four oral arms showing, Sunset Beach, NC, 11/08/11

Sea Whips -- soft corals; Atlantic Wing Oysters on Sea Whip on Left

Polyp-covered Barnacles, Conopea galeata, on Sea Whips

Sea Whips found on Edisto Beach, SC, 01/18/07

Sea Pansies, Renilla reniformis - a soft coral composed of one large polyp covered with secondary polyps with a stalk called a peduncle

Sea Pansies in my salt water aquarium, with feeding polyps extended

Bryozoan

Hydroid, Halocordia disticha

Microscope views of Star Coral, Astrangia danae

Chordata: Tunicates & Fish

Colonial Tunicate, Eudistoma capsulatum, Sunset Beach, NC, 10/20/09

Colonial tunicate, Eudistoma hepaticum, sea liver, Sunset Beach, 11/04/06

Large tunicate, Eudistoma hepaticum, sea liver, found right after Hurricane Ophelia; there were hundreds of them

Colonial tunicate, Eudistoma hepaticum, sea liver, found on Sunset Beach on 11/14/06

Colonial Tunicates,various dried Eudistoma hepaticum and Aplidium stellatum

Aplidium stellatum, sea pork

Solitary Tunicates, Styela plicata, called Sea Squirts with incurrent and excurrent siphons

Smooth Dogfish Shark, Mustelus canis, Sunset Beach, NC, 3/17/08 -- 4 feet long

Smooth Dogfish Shark, Mustelus canis, Sunset Beach, NC, 3/22/08 -- 3 feet long

Atlantic Sharp-nosed Shark -- 2-ft. long

This is a link to a webpage dedicated to Stingrays and Skates: http://www.okeefes.org/Marine_Life/stingrays_and_skates/stingrays_and_skates.htm

Probably Southern Stingray, Dasyatis americana

Smooth Butterfly Ray, Gymnura micrura, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/03/09

Cownose Ray, Rhinoptera bonasus, Sunset Beach, NC, 05/30/08

Cownose Rays, Rhinoptera bonasus, Sunset Beach, NC, 06/05/08

Stingray

Upside down stingray

Blue

Striped Burrfish, Chilomycterus schoepfi, found on Sunset Beach, 11/30/06; note: the typical striped pattern has been bleached out on this carcass.

Skate egg cases -- referred to as Mermaids' purses

Mollusks -- Visit these separate web pages:

Gastropod Photos; Bivalve Photos; Microscope Gastropod Photos; Microscope Bivalve Photos

Octopus vulgaris found on Thanksgiving on Sunset Beach, 11/23/06

Octopus vulgaris, Sunset Beach, 12/05/04

Octopus vulgaris, Ocean Isle Beach, 09/28/04

Sea Hares, genus Aplysia, Sunset Beach, 06/06

Arthropods -- Visit the crab web page: Crab Photos.htm

Ghost Shrimp, Callichirus major, female, Sunset Beach, NC, 04/10/10 -- sucked up from a Ghost Shrimp hole using a yabbie pump

Ghost Shrimp,probably Callichirus major, found with the tip of its large claw poking out of the sand, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/02/07. It was limp & soon died. Ghost shrimp make hundreds of tiny holes near the ocean, connected by underground tunnels. One can understand how they do that with claws like this. The body of the shrimp, excluding the claw, was 5 inches long. The large claw was 1.5 inches long, for a total "length" of 6.5 inches. The photo directly above is the same claw photographed nearly three years later.

Thalassinid Burrow

Ghost Shrimp waste pellets

Another type of burrow, Sunset Beach, NC, 05/05/15

Probably both mantis shrimp, extracted from Ghost Shrimp hole using yabbie pump, Sunset Beach, NC, 04/10/10

Peppermint Shrimp, Lysmata wurdimani, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/03/09 -- found in seaweed and sea drift Lysmata wurdimanni

Skeleton Shrimp -- Caprellid Amphipods, another species of amphipod, and an isopod found in seaweed

Balanus eburneus, bleached

Possibly Megabalanus coccopoma, an invasive species of barnacle, surrounded by local barnacles and the mussel Brachidontes exustus, found on Edisto Island, SC, 01/19/07

Possibly a Megabalanus coccopoma barnacle (R), an invasive species, and another acorn barnacle (L), possibly the ivory barnacle, Balanus eburneus, Wrightsville Beach, NC, 06/29/06

Probably a species of Balanus, probably either B. venustus or B. amphitrite, Wrightsville Beach, NC, 06/29/06

Live barnacles photographed through microscope

Live goose barnacles that were next to the barnacles above, 06/29/06

Annelida -- Worms

Polychaete worms, Chaetopterus variopedatus, called "mucous-bag feeders"

Polychaete worm, Chaetopterus variopedatus, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/22/13

Tube Pea Crab, female, with eggs, found inside Poychaete worm tube with live worm shown above, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/22/13

Empty casings of Polychaete worms, Chaetopterus variopedatus, 05/09/06

Decorated tube worms, Diopatra cuprea, that have a leathery case between themselves and the shells. Although they are polychaete worms, they are active predators.