This shore crab attacked and devoured an edible crab that had , very unwisely , moulted its armour out in the open them as a great place to watch barnacles feeding , blennies nipping at their limbs , limpets arguing with each other and dogwhelks doing unspeakable things to their fellow molluscs ! Take this approach over shallow sand too , looking out for shrimps , weevers and baby flatfish .
What is your favourite marine creature ? Predictably , it has to be the tompot blenny , although the common cuttlefish , shore crab and corkwing wrasse run it extremely close , and it ’ s no coincidence that those are the four animals on the new book ’ s front cover ! The tompot ’ s charisma and feistiness is brilliant of course but it ’ s their skin markings , which enable me to recognise individuals , that are the biggest factor . Knowing exactly who is interacting with who in the tompot community on my local reef is an absolute ‘ game changer ’ in interpreting behaviour . �
Young conger eel eating a tompot blenny . The predator was just small enough to enter the crevice and just large enough to ( eventually ) swallow the unlucky blenny
This tompot blenny couple ( female on the right ) are keeping a careful eye on the lurking topknot
Great British Marine Animals by Paul Naylor is published in softback by Sound Diving Publications and is available for pre-order now , RRP £ 19.99 , ISBN 9780952283171
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