sponges they are grazing. The distinctive ribbon-like egg mass they produce may then be more noticeable than the slug itself.
Green spots on the red background of its column explains the name of the strawberry anemone( Actinia fragacea). With its tentacles fully extended, it is one of the most attractive species we see in shallow water. Just don’ t tell that to any of the small creatures that are swept towards those tentacles by the tidal swell, get caught by their batteries of stinging cells and are then devoured!
Admittedly, a sea gooseberry such as Pleurobrachia pileus does look rather like a transparent drifting version of the little fruit. Distinctive sets of often iridescent combs, rows of hair-like cilia, run along the body and provide propulsion. They help with the impersonation of a gooseberry but also lead to the alternative and more helpful group name of‘ Comb Jelly’.
The gravel sea cucumber( Neopentadactyla mixta) is typical of another group of animals named after their body shape but, like most species, that body is largely hidden in the seabed or a crevice. If you watch one feeding for a few moments, curling up each of its feathery arms in turn and stuffing it into its mouth to remove and ingest any collected material( like someone sucking jam off their fingers), their status as an animal is obvious.
The rather dismissively nicknamed sea potato( or much more appropriately titled Common Heart Urchin), Echinocardium cordatum, is highly specialised for living submerged in a sandy seabed. Its dense fur of spines moves it through the sediment and highly elongated tube feet stretch up to the sand’ s surface to respire and collect deposited particles for food. �
Large and rather squat strawberry anemone that looks well fed
Sea gooseberry with iridescent combs for propulsion and long food-capturing tentacles that can be fully retracted
Paul’ s photos and video clips capturing UK marine life stories are on Instagram @ paulnaylormarinephoto
Gravel sea cucumbers are often abundant in maerl habitats, such as here in Loch Carron
Sea potatoes spend most of their time buried in seabed sediment. Seeing a healthy one partly exposed is unusual
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