WHAT THE OCEAN BRINGS TO THE SHORE

Kopia – Observed lives.jpg

Today I would like to share another post from my Observed Lives series, more precisely about ocean life. What you will see here in the pictures may for sure not look beautiful in the usual sense. Some things might even seem a bit strange at first. That is how they looked at least to me.

Everything in this post is something I saw for the very first time in my live. That made the whole experience more exciting, because finding something unfamiliar on the beach immediately makes you curious. You start wondering what it is. People often say that travel opens your mind and I think moments like this show why. When you come across unusual creatures on the shore, you naturally begin to ask questions, look for information and try to understand what you’ve found. That’s exactly what happened to me.

So in this post I would like to show you the small discoveries I made during that walk on the beach in Portugal on the atlantic coast.

I have to admit that finding this strange object on the beach really surprised me. At first I had really no idea what I was looking at. I didn’t know if it was an animal or maybe some kind of plant. It looked unusual, like it had a mouth.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what species it might be. I’m still not completely sure, but the most likely answer is a brown alga called SACCORHIZA POLYSCHIDES. It could be a young piece or maybe a part that broke off in strong waves. As I said, I can’t be fully certain, but this seems to match its shape and the seaweed around it.

SACCORHIZA POLYSCHIDES also known as bulb kelp is a large brown seaweed found along the Atlantic coast. It has a thick, rounded base and long, ribbon-like fronds. It usually grows in shallow coastal waters and can reach impressive sizes. During storms or strong tides, parts of it often break off and wash up on the shore. That might be why this piece ended up on the sand.

Another unusual creature I found that day was this SEA HARE. At first I had again no idea what it was. I only guessed it must be some kind of animal. Its body was soft, slippery and a bit jelly‑like, so it probably wasn’t a plant.

After checking some sources I learned that it was a sea slug called a sea hare from the genus APLYSIA. These animals live mostly in shallow coastal waters and eat algae. Their name comes from the two small structures on their head, called rhinophores, which look a bit like rabbit ears.
Sea hares are harmless but they have an interesting way of protecting themselves. When they feel threatened, they can release a cloud of purple ink into the water. This ink confuses predators and gives the sea hare a chance to escape.

This may look like a bit of spaghetti left on the beach, but it’s actually another type of marine algae. It is most likely NEMALION HELMINTHOIDES, a brown alga common along the Atlantic coast.

Its long, tube‑like and slightly jelly‑like branches make it easy to recognize. When it’s fresh and wet, it feels soft and slippery, almost like a rubber. When it dries, it becomes thinner and more fragile.

This species usually grows on rocks in the intertidal zone, where it is exposed to both water and air as the tides change. Like other brown algae, it plays an important role in coastal ecosystems by giving shelter to small animals and producing oxygen through photosynthesis.

And finally you can see something that looks less unusual than the earlier creatures — a mussel. What caught my eye, however, wasn’t the shell itself but the BARNACLES growing on it.

This is a great example of how sea organisms live side by side. BARNACLES are crustaceans that attach themselves permanently to hard surfaces like rocks, ships, whales and also other shells. In this case they used the mussel as a solid base.
Their relationship is usually seen as commensalism. The barnacles benefit because they get a stable surface in a crowded environment. The mussel isn’t eaten or harmed directly, but the extra weight and reduced movement can affect it a little, especially during strong waves.

What looks like a simple shell on the beach is actually a tiny ecosystem — layers of life growing on top of other life.