RANDOM PHOTO - A HORSESHOE CRAB

I find these fascinating creatures and very prehistoric looking. As I am sharing from my archives and looking at a lot of old blog posts to reshare, I found this. We were in Virginia Beach walking along the sand. It is a shell of an old Horseshoe crab. I wondered if its demise was caused by a hungry gull. Their footprints were everywhere, as you might expect from a walk on the beach.

Horseshoe crabs are marine anthropods of the family Limulidae and order Xiphosura or Xiphosurida that live primarily in and around shallow waters on soft sandy or muddy bottoms.  

A horsehoe crab is best described as a 'living fossil', an ancient, armored arthropod that has remained virtually unchanged for over 450 million years, predating even the dinosaurs. Despite their name they are not true crabs, but more closely related to spiders and scorpions. 

There is an amazing amount of information about them online, but I will finish here.

If you want to find out more, you can go to this link. The following photo I found on pixabay.com

Thanks for looking and I hope you are having a great week so far.

SNAPPING TURTLES, SEAHORSES, CRABS AND FISH

 If you ever find yourself in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I can highly recommend the Aquarium, link here.  This was not a recent visit as you can guess, but not so long ago in the grand scheme of things. 

This is a Snapping Turtle.  He has a very interesting face doesn't he?

There were several small crabs scurrying around in this exhibit.

My personal favorites were the seahorses. Only a couple of photos came out. Seahorse populations are declining but it is hoped that holding and displaying them will heighten awareness of marine conservation issues, engage public support and provide the opportunity to study and improve our knowledge of their biology. Here they are not collected from the wild, instead they get animals from facilities that breed captive individuals.

I took several photos but most came out very blurry. I was happy with what I could get.

These are Lionfish and very venomous. They are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and were first observed in US waters in 2000 off the coast of North Carolina. Scientists have offered several explanations for their arrival - perhaps accidental or intentional release by aquarium hobbyists. Lionfish now live around wrecks from New York to South Florida where they prey on small fish and threaten local fisheries.  The lesson learned from this and other 'invasive' stories is to avoid introducing non-native species into our local environments.  As beautiful as they are, there always seems to be unfortunate consequences.

Striped Burrfish. Their range is from the Chesapeake Bay to Brazil.

These are Sheepshead and their range is from Cape Cod to Brazil.

I didn't identify all the fish and am not sure what these are.

Or this?

These look like those Sheepshead.

I always find aquariums interesting to look around.  I hope you have enjoyed these photos from our time there.  

Thanks for looking 

and enjoy the rest of the week.

COROLLA, NORTH CAROLINA TRIP - SIXTH DAY - 9-6-17 - THE SOUND

Corolla, North Carolina Trip 
Sixth Day
Wednesday, September 6th, 2017
The Sound



9.41 a.m. We are watching the weather channel, and Florida is gearing up for Hurricane Irma.  Thinking of all our family and friends, for everyone down there.  People are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.  We are having such mad weather.  

Today started with Gregg going for an early morning beach walk with his sister.  Too late for the sunrise, just a pleasant stroll along that beautiful beach, worth visiting at any time of the day.  

When he came back we went out for a few hours of looking around.  As we were leaving a little later than usual and it was near lunchtime, we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich shop in Corolla, and it also had a very large wine selection.  Bacchus Wine and Cheese.  I can't remember what we ate now.  Their wine selection was impressive but we didn't buy any.

We wanted to explore the area near the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.  When we were visiting the other day we noticed a walkway to the Currituck Sound. On each side of the wooden path there were grasses that towered over us.  

I can't remember their name but they were invasive grasses that had run amok, this from a description on a marker. They did make a pretty picture though.  

At the end of the walk was a seating area with half a dozen people holidaying from Pennsylvania, all members of the same family. 



They had been crabbing and made us aware of two small blue crabs that were nearby. 

They were catching them by tying raw chicken wings onto string, dropping the string over the side and the crab would grab on.  



The person holding the string slowly brings it up along with the crab.  They were letting them go but watching them as they walked themselves back into the sound.  The water was so high that it was lapping over the deck, and it was an easy escape.

It was a chance for me to study them, as well as listening to the family tell me how they were catching them.  I was glad that these feisty little crabs were making it back into the water.

A young Great Blue Heron was standing on the rail.  One of the ladies said it had landed on the rail only a few moments ago.  It looked a bit bedraggled, and at first I was wondering if it was molting. 

He was still a wonderful looking bird to me...

and I felt very lucky to be this close to one, without him being bothered by everyone's presence.  

We chatted to the family for a while and finally left them to their crabbing. 

We made our way to the nearby education wildlife center.  I may be wrong but it didn't look the kind of place the general public could walk around, more of a research place I think but didn't investigate it too much.  We did, however, walk behind the building.  It was built up on solid looking stilts and I spotted this parked underneath.  

It reminded me of the story our guide told us a few days earlier when we were looking for the wild horses.  On the beach we had passed two sites with sea turtle nests.  They had been blocked off by a fence, and we were told the man-made channel that we saw going down to the water, were for the newly hatched turtles to give them safe passage.  There were volunteers taking care of these turtle nests.  

There were other interesting things underneath the building.

I noticed a boat with a large container inside.

A closer inspection revealed these.

I thought it looked like a huge vertebrae but, it wasn't until I saw the following that I understood what it belonged to.  

Sadly it was from a young whale that had been stranded on the Southern Shores.

Next we made our way to a public gazebo built on the water.

We sat for a while. It was very pleasant with a cool breeze. 

From there we walked over to the historic Whalehead.  There were tours of the building but we didn't feel like it today.

  
The Whalehead is a restored 1920's building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 
On one of those trips we hope to make to this area again we will explore further, but for now it was time to make our way back to the house. 

That evening after another lovely dinner, we played Trivial Persuit with the family. Gregg and I haven't played it in years and we had fun, but then it was time to call it a night.  Not sure what we will be doing tomorrow but that's part of the enjoyment of this holiday, playing everything by ear.

COROLLA NORTH CAROLINA TRIP - 5TH DAY - 9-5-17 - PART 1 - SUNSET

Corolla, North Carolina Trip - Fifth Day - Part 1

Sunrise 
Wright Brothers' Memorial
Lost Colony

Tuesday, September 5th, 2017

It is now 6.50 p.m. and I am back at the house.  I got up today for the sunrise. Gregg almost had to see it on his own as he left before me, with me mumbling some poor excuse about being too tired.  I mumble things incoherently when I am almost all-the-way asleep.  However, after he left I could not bear the thought of him seeing that sunrise on his own.  I heard the door close and I had immediate regret, so I kicked my lazy butt out of bed and dressed faster than I usually do, literally throwing clothes on, raced down to the beach without any thought of twisted ankles - I have a history - had momentary panic when I couldn't see him, but looked and looked and there he was.  

I snuck up behind him and gave him a big hug, experiencing a few seconds of thought that I might be hugging a complete stranger.  I have been known to rush up to someone - rarely thank the powers - pat them on the back, chatting away for what seems like an eternity,  thinking it was Gregg - that happened not so long ago - only to be greeted by a  strange face in complete shock at being accosted by, whomever he thought I was.  I don't blush too often but when I blush I am my own sunrise, and it was a wee bit dark that morning.  I needn't have worried.  Gregg saw me coming as he had a big smile on his face and he wasn't surprised.  He knows me better than I know myself at times.  A few minutes later here comes the sun.  Surreal!  

"Sunrise offered a very beautiful spectacle; the water was quite unruffled, but the motion communicated by the tides was so great that, although there was not a breath of air stirring, the sea heaved slowly with a grand and majestic motion."

~George Grey~

These are all Gregg's sunrise photos.  I have some of my own which I will share at a later date.

It was a lovely time at the beach in that very special light. There were a few other sun worshippers.   

As it got lighter we could see a familiar figure approaching.  It was Gregg's sister.

We had a nice time chatting for a while....

  

and watched as these two cute dogs trotted by. 

They were certainly enjoying their walk.

Gregg and his sister took a walk further up the beach and I meandered back to the house, taking lots of photos along the way,

 finding a few shells,

I thought this was some kind of seaweed and was very surprised to find that it was an egg casing for a skate.  I would like to spend more time at the beach to improve my knowledge of such things.

I came across the following here and here which gives more information.



I came across the remains of a horseshoe crab earlier.  I look forward to the day when I can see a live one.

I see traces of those ghost crabs again...

and occasionally see them scurrying down into burrows as I walk along the path back to the house.  

The dunes are high and you can't see the ocean when you reach the bottom level.  It is very private and incredibly pretty.  

There is a row of sea oats on the top of the dunes, and I believe this pink flower, quite tiny, is a perennial sand bean.  These and the other fauna keep me well occupied.  I am not sure what the spiky plant is.

I believe these are pokeweed berries.  There is an interesting article at this link.

We have a private entrance and there is no one else to disturb my thoughts, and no one awake in the house yet.  Once I had finished searching for wildflowers and ghost crabs, I found a comfortable chair and sat outside for a while enjoying the peacefulness of it all, looking up at the dunes and the pretty glow that still filled the sky.  It was a perfect time of the day to do this.  I stayed there for a half hour or so, before going in and getting ready for another day of sight-seeing.