There are more sea anemones, and visiting shore crabs. Periwinkle operculum are tear shaped.ĭetail of the mid tidal: Smooth periwinkle, Pin cushion starfish, mussels and bladderwrack You can tell Periwinkle and Top-shell species apart by the shape of their operculum, the door at the bottom of their shells. Different species of top shell and winkle favour different areas of the rocky shore. Tons of shells like top-shells, barnacles, Perwinkles, and mussels, hang out amidst the seaweeds. Mid tidal zone: Crab and Breadcrumb sponge with coral weed You need to handle the changes in temperature and salt, but it’s a less extreme environment than the upper tidal or splash zone. There’s less wave action as a lot of the time the area is submerged. This stretch is exposed for shorter times between tides. The whelks travel around when the tide is in, predating on mussels and other bivalves by drilling a hole through their shells and sucking out the meat.ĭetail of the intertidal showing chitons, whelks, and a sea anemone Rocky shore Mid tidal ![]() Limpet (with mating barnacles on the side)Ĭhitons, whelks, winkles, and barnacles live here alongside hardy sea anemones and the toughest of all seaweeds, channelled wrack. On the plus side, it’s so hard to survive here that there’s not a lot of competition. the crashing waves cause physical damage. Animals and plants living here have to handle massive fluctuations in temperature and being out of water for 12 plus hours every day. Lower down, you’ve got the high tide or intertidal zone. Thrift Armeria maritima Rocky shore Intertidal zone You get limpets, clinging on and anchoring themselves to the exact same spot for most of their lives. They’re known as Halophytes, and I wrote a blog on them a while back.Īnimal wise, shore flies visit, and slaters (relatives of woodlice) crawl about. Plants that do survive here have amazing adaptations to allow them to tackle the salt. you might get tough periwinkles, but the combination of dry and salty splashing is lethal to most organisms. The top zone has very little growing there except for the odd brave plant and Xanthora lichen. The very top of a shore is known as the splash zone. Apologies in advance to the purists among you! Rocky shores: Splash zone It’s just be a jumble of italicised Latin if I did. In this blog, there are so many animals and plants discussed, that I’m taking the decision not to give every scientific name. Rocky shore line ecosystem zonation of species Inking it up was an absolute joy, although it took a great deal longer than I would have liked! Here’s the pencil rough, which I annotated so that it made a bit more sense.Īnd here’s the final illustration. So when this illustration turned up, I was exceptionally well equipped. ![]() I sketched barnacle speciation, and shrieked with delight at Porcelain crabs. All about Discovering life on rocky shores! The course is hands on, so I took tons of photos and copious notes. How do I know? Well, the week I started this project, I went on a fabulous weekend course. There are also biological, or biotic factors at play, such as predation, competition for food, and competition for space. ![]() The factors that cause these differences (also known as zonation) include physical forces such as salt levels, dehydration, physical damage from the waves. These plants and animals grow in different zones going up the shoreline. Alex wanted a drawing that shows the different animals and seaweeds on rocky shores. ![]() The timing of this illustration was an extraordinary stroke of luck. This image of the zonation of a rocky shore ecosystem was one of the illustrations. I recently illustrated The Hidden Universe by Alexandre Antonelli.
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