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Irish Seashore Life
Walking along the shore at the high tide mark you Belonging to the same family as the Octopus and
can often encounter debris that was left behind Squid, the Cuttlefish lives usually in bays and
by the tide. On this strandline you can sometimes find estuaries. When alive the bone inside its body has many
some interesting or unusual objects. Some of these tiny holes which fill with gas helping it to float. You may
may have some from the deeper waters of the ocean , find such a Cuttlefish bone on the shore as it floats about
attached to a ship wreck or freely floating, land upon the in the water for a long time after the Cuttlefish dies. If
shore. you have a pet budgie, you may give it such a bone to
You could find any number of things! help it keep it’s beak trim!
The ocean covers an immense area and is inhabited
by countless forms of plant and animal life. Here is a Starfish and Sea Urchins
selection of the creatures you are likely to meet in the
rock-pools around Ireland’s coasts.
Mermaid’s Purse
Sparrán na caillí mairbhe
Scyliorhinus canicula
This is an egg case laid by the dogfish in deeper Starfish and sea urchins are part of a group of animals
waters. Long twisted tendrils are to be found on known as echinoderms- the spiny-skinned animals.
each corner which once were used to attach the egg case They all carry spiny skins as their name suggests –
to seaweed or other floating structures. Light brown however in some, the spines are soft and not so obvious.
in color the “mermaids purse” is only seen when it is Apart from their spines, echinoderms share another
washed upon the shore. By this time it is usually quite feature- they have bodies divided into equal sections
dry and hard. As the young fist will have hatched out by arranged around a central point. The starfish is a case in
the time it has washed ashore, you will normally find it point. The sea urchin if you examine it closely, you will
empty. find that it too is divided into segments, not unlike an
orange. Starfish have five arms, which may be rough and
Common Cuttlefish spiny or quite smooth to touch. Many small tube-feet
(skeleton) Cudal (Cnámh) with suckers line the underside of their bodies. These
Sepia officinalis are used for moving about and feeding. Some of these
suckers are strong enough to prise open shellfish. Once
open a starfish can stick its stomach out of its mouth and
into the shellfish. Using digestive juices it then proceeds
to soften the animal that is to be dinner, and absorb it.
Sea Potato / Heart Urchin
Croídín Buí
Echinocardium cordatum
112
Walking along the shore at the high tide mark you Belonging to the same family as the Octopus and
can often encounter debris that was left behind Squid, the Cuttlefish lives usually in bays and
by the tide. On this strandline you can sometimes find estuaries. When alive the bone inside its body has many
some interesting or unusual objects. Some of these tiny holes which fill with gas helping it to float. You may
may have some from the deeper waters of the ocean , find such a Cuttlefish bone on the shore as it floats about
attached to a ship wreck or freely floating, land upon the in the water for a long time after the Cuttlefish dies. If
shore. you have a pet budgie, you may give it such a bone to
You could find any number of things! help it keep it’s beak trim!
The ocean covers an immense area and is inhabited
by countless forms of plant and animal life. Here is a Starfish and Sea Urchins
selection of the creatures you are likely to meet in the
rock-pools around Ireland’s coasts.
Mermaid’s Purse
Sparrán na caillí mairbhe
Scyliorhinus canicula
This is an egg case laid by the dogfish in deeper Starfish and sea urchins are part of a group of animals
waters. Long twisted tendrils are to be found on known as echinoderms- the spiny-skinned animals.
each corner which once were used to attach the egg case They all carry spiny skins as their name suggests –
to seaweed or other floating structures. Light brown however in some, the spines are soft and not so obvious.
in color the “mermaids purse” is only seen when it is Apart from their spines, echinoderms share another
washed upon the shore. By this time it is usually quite feature- they have bodies divided into equal sections
dry and hard. As the young fist will have hatched out by arranged around a central point. The starfish is a case in
the time it has washed ashore, you will normally find it point. The sea urchin if you examine it closely, you will
empty. find that it too is divided into segments, not unlike an
orange. Starfish have five arms, which may be rough and
Common Cuttlefish spiny or quite smooth to touch. Many small tube-feet
(skeleton) Cudal (Cnámh) with suckers line the underside of their bodies. These
Sepia officinalis are used for moving about and feeding. Some of these
suckers are strong enough to prise open shellfish. Once
open a starfish can stick its stomach out of its mouth and
into the shellfish. Using digestive juices it then proceeds
to soften the animal that is to be dinner, and absorb it.
Sea Potato / Heart Urchin
Croídín Buí
Echinocardium cordatum
112
