TRUE FLIES SEA GOOSEBERRY COMMON LIMPET

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COMMON BLUE DAMSELFLY

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LARGE RED DAMSELFLY first This species is often the spring. to be seen flying in the Damselflies rest horizontally folded with their clear wings together over their body.

COMMON FROGHOPPER bug, This is a species of spittle nymphs so-called because the with (young) protect themselves spit. It a foam known as cuckoo plants. lives on many different /

These insects belong order Diptera. to the

They have only a single pair of wings. Their hind wings have evolved into organs called halteres, which help with balance during flight. form These two groups the order Orthoptera. They have large wings, but when threatened, on tend to jump away their large hind legs. rub Many adult males their wings or legs together to “sing” to attract mates.

MIGRANT HAWKER

COMMON CRANEFLY

TRUE BUGS

BANDED MOSQUITO

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MOLLUSCS Identifiable from their shells, these species include bivalves (mussel, sand gaper, oyster), which have two shells joined with a hinge; and gastropods (the others), which means “stomach-foot” as the animal appears to crawl on its belly.

OTHER INVERTEBRATES The diverse creatures in this section, which includes starfish and sponges, have little in common except that they have do not have a backbone. They may be found either in shallow seas or in coastal pools.

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COMMON MUSSEL

This long-lived mollusc can grow to 10 cm or more. Its dark shell is sculpted with concentric lines, the interior being pearly white with a purplish border. It has an off-centre umbo (protuberance).

COMMON STARFISH

This species can grow to 50 cm, but only 20 cm where food supply is poor. Smaller specimens are stiff compared to floppier, larger ones. The orange-brown skin is dotted with blunt white spines.

BROWN SHRIMP

This mottled shrimp is often buried in sediment, with only its eyes and antennae visible. The antennae are almost as long as its 9-cm body. It can alter its colour to suit its environment.

SAND GAPER

COMMON RED ANT

COMMON BRITTLE STAR This species has short, rigid arms only up to four times the diameter of its 3.5-cm disc. It is less brightly coloured than related species – a necessary camouflage for dwelling on the surface, not in crevices.

NATIVE OYSTER

LUGWORM

BEADLET ANEMONE

PURPLE TOPSHELL

ESTUARY RAGWORM This 12-cm-long, active worm has 100 or more segments, each with a pair of parapods – fleshy lobes that serve as paddles or legs. It has four eyes, two antennae, and four pairs of tentacles on its head.

EDIBLE CRAB VELVET SWIMMING CRAB This species is distinguished by Also known as its the large Devil size, Crab, this massive pincers fierce and fast-moving with black species tips, orange-brown has flattened hind legs colour, for and swimming. the indented “piecrust” Its 9-cm-wide, dark edge bluish to shell its shell, is which often coated in can a grow brown to “velvet” 25 cm wide. and bears five teeth on either side.

SNAKELOCKS ANEMONE

COMMON PERIWINKLE The largest (up to 5 cm) and most common periwinkle, this species is dark grey-brown, finely lined, and has a sharply pointed shell. As it grows older, the shell tends to get paler and smoother.

MOON JELLYFISH

DOG WHELK

A thick-shelled, predatory snail that is usually whitish or pale yellow in colour, although it can be brown, with dark bands. It is broadly conical with a short spire and grows to 3 cm long or more.

SEA SQUIRT

GLASS PRAWN

This typical, 6-cm-long prawn is translucent, with reddish brown lines on the shell and abdomen. The first two pairs of waling legs are tipped with smaller pincers and have coloured banding.

This member of the Ctenophora, or comb-jelly, family has a transparent, oval, jelly body that grows to about 2.5 cm long. In water, its tentacles catch plankton on their sticky cells.

BREADCRUMB SPONGE