A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the tiny weeny jellyfish I found along the receding tideline. Contrary to my expectations, the photos with the better camera did work out OK – here’s one:
The largest no bigger than about an inch, ie they were between 1cm and 2cm, like little blisters dotted along the tideline.
Like a lace-edged tulle wedding veil tossed on the sand, this wash of white turned out to be massive numbers of the tiniest shells imaginable
These tiny weeny little shells are about 2mm, some 3mm long, almost too small to see with the naked eye - well mine at least. Didn't have my reading glasses ... and to give an idea of scale, the upturned white shell at the centre of this pic was about 1cm long.
About a week after I took these photos we had a massive storm, with strong winds causing waves breaking over the rambla (road along the river’s edge, esplanade equivalent, 25km of it in Montevideo) The next day I was down there early, feeling sure there’d be masses of rubbish washed up all along the beach, but not so! I walked just after the very high tide had turned – my prints were the third on the beach. It was as if the beach had all been vacuumed and smoothed out. Only a delicate line of the tiniest shells were left behind:
Spiders? Over the past couple of days there have been heaps of drifting lines of spider thread passing over the water towards the land – they seem to come from Argentina which is south of here. It’s not all day, they just come in drifts – and since I loathe spiders it’s irritating to me to have these fine threads about my face especially – the spiders at this stage are so minute I have no chance of capturing one on film, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. I will reveal here I am one person who really loses it in the presence of a spider, and have warned my dearly beloved that if he ever wants to get rid of me, bringing a pet spider into the house will do it – I will leave immediately. I know spiders are our friends – but they can just go and be friends somewhere else, is how I feel !
As shown by these tiny stranded creatures on the little section of coastline I walk, masses of new life is produced with heavy rates of loss. but enough for species to survive, quite awesome when you think about it.
