I had no idea what it was, but I knew it wasn't a part of any inner skeletal structure, even though that's what it looks like at first glance. It was later made known to me that it's actually an egg case of the knobbed whelk, which I often see on the beach. I picked up this one too, for reference.
We've been having a snow about once a week lately, and this past week's snow day I spent dissecting this egg case. This is what I found.
Miniscule sea creatures! The top is the tiny whelk, which I was expecting to find. But also within a few of the other egg cases I found a tiny sand flea, and then what looks like a tiny quahog or some similar bivalve, separated. This was the highlight of my day, obviously. Growing up inland, we didn't often get the chance to explore this area of the natural world-- except for my high school marine biology class, which I loved.
In addition to my growing shell collection, another find on the beach has been a snowy owl that I can invariably locate at the end of our run near the water each morning. It blends in beautifully with the snow.
The beach we frequent is home to piping plovers that the dog seems to herd down to the end of the beach and back as we go. They are fun to watch, and the owl is watching them as well. It's amazing to see it swoop down over the water and back to its perch on the dunes.
Anyway, I don't understand the people who make the mass migration to Florida to stay with the 70 degree weather. Cape Cod in the winter is just beautiful.
Those shells are fascinating. I guess I have never considered how the shellfish were birthed.
ReplyDeleteThat pup is beautiful. I bet she keeps you smiling!