These urchins arrange small items on their backs for camouflage.

'The burdens of the world
on my back
lighten the world
not a whit while
removing them greatly
decreases my specific
gravity' ~ "Correction" by A. R. Ammons

Live cover is defensive camouflage for some Spider Crabs, Libinia spp.

"If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength." ~ Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

Lightning Whelk -- Busycon contrarium, preys on bivalves, about one per month.

'...for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves that we find in the sea.' ~ e. e. cummings, "maggie and millie and molly and may"

whelk egg casings in intertidal zone light dance -- these strings are laid by females in early spring and hatch in early May.

"If the oceans die, we die." ~ Paul Watson

Pear Whelk -- Busycon spiratum, exposed at low tide among some oyster shells it may have been emptying

Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs -- Limulus polyphemus, mating. Polyphemus after a giant cyclops in Greek mythology, limulus means slightly askew or odd in latin. The ancestors of horseshoe crabs predate dinosaurs, and existed at least 350 million years ago. However they are not actually crabs and are closer relations to scorpions.

although slightly unusual for these waters, i think this is a Roughtail Stingray -- Dasyatis centroura, foraging off Atsena Otie in Cedar Key NWR

Pink Shrimp -- Farfantepenaeus duorarum, plays an important role in estuarine and marine food chains as predator, prey and competitor. Approximately 80% of gulf marine organisms rely on mangrove estuarine habitat during their juvenile years.

'Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.' ~ from "The Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot

Pink Shrimp -- Farfantepenaeus duorarum

"There are inherent thresholds in the scale of human activity, that when surpassed, produce second and third-order effects that subtract if not destroy the quality of all life." ~ E F Schumacher

A Willet carries a shrimp to a more secluded spot in the lagoon.

Sea Walnut -- Mnemiopsis leidyi, a comb jelly of western Atlantic waters, pulse with rainbow light refracting off its moving cilia.

'And learn O voyager to walk
The roll of earth, the pitch and fall
That swings across these trees those stars:
That swings the sunlight up the wall.

And learn upon these narrow beds
To sleep in spite of sea, in spite
Of sound the rushing planet makes:
And learn to sleep against this ground.' ~ "Seafarer" by Archibald MacLeish

Atlantic Ghost Crab (m) -- Ocypode quadrata

The Florida Stone Crab -- Menippe mercenaria, is an important seafood species due to its ability to regrow its limbs. The claws are considered a delicacy and currently drive prices near $40/lb. Like lobsters, females mate only after molting when highly vulnerable.

Mother ocean is a multifaceted lens for viewing a sponge, "simplest" of multicellular animals yet often challenging to identify. For fascination, consider that sponges have no excretory, respiratory or circulatory systems, yet they consume the broadest food spectrum of all filter feeders, often relying on bacteria more than plankton.

Red Hermit Crab -- Petrochirus diogenes, petro-chirus = stony-finger. Diogenes of Sinope, philosophical father of the cynics and grandfather of the stoics, famously lived in a large ceramic wine jar, making a virtue of poverty and a mockery of Plato.

"Hermits have no peer pressure." ~ Steven Wright

local shell collector sports a Cerith.

'...First, you figure out what each one means by itself,
the jingle, the periwinkle, the scallop
full of moonlight.
Then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story.' ~ Mary Oliver, "Breakage"

Moon Snail egg collar in the intertidal zone

"As a group, snails have the most bizarre sex lives of any animal." ~ Robert A. Wallace

mating Crown Conchs -- Melongena corona -- females typically larger than males. as predators they eat snails and bivalves, but are also opportunistic scavengers of a variety of life forms.

'... What is a snail's fury? all
I think is that if later
I had parted the blades
above the tunnel and saw the thin
trail of broken white across
litter, I would never have
imagined the slow passion
to that deliberate progress.' ~ Thom Gunn, "Considering the Snail", 2009.

Crown Conch daydream

'Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye laid quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things...' ~ from "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tinturn Alley" by William Wordsworth

Coffee Bean Snails -- Melampus coffeus

“Life on earth is a delicate balance of interdependent creatures. None can be ignored, for the least appreciated sometimes turn out to be the most important.” ~ Merlin Tuttle

periwinkle social, mating season

'Amoebas at the start
Were not complex;
The tore themselves apart
And started Sex.' ~ Arthur Guiterman, "Sex".

Periwinkles releasing egg mass may recall Aphrodite's origins.

'Who has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God's residence is next to mine,
His furniture is love.' ~ E. Dickinson, XVII, Poems, Series 3.

Calico Scallop -- Aequipecten gibbus eyes can draw one closer...

Aphrodite floated to shore on the shell of a scallop.

Sunray Venus Clam -- Macrocallista nimbosa, has been considered for commercial potential. grows to about 4".

'Then, if you'd be impressive,
Remember what I say,
That abstract qualities begin
With capitals alway;
The Good, the True, the Beautiful,--
Those are things that pay!' ~ Lewis Carroll, "Poeta Fit, non Nascitur"

small Cross-barred Venus -- Chione cancellata

“I’ll tell you what happened one night. I was dreaming that I got married and such was my despair that I woke up. Rather than repeat the same dream, I got up, and walked the streets at night like a madman.” ~ Sandro Botticelli

Brazilian Sea Hare -- Aplysia brasiliana

Ragged Sea Hares -- Bursatella leachii pleii

"I don't like standard beauty. There is no beauty without strangeness." ~ Karl Lagerfeld

Sea Slug was just a few millimeters long, but held my fascination for a spell.

"any life form is amazing when you really look." ~ Janet Woodcock

Cannonball Jellyfish -- Stomolophus meleagris (non-stinging)

“There’s a shocking amount of genetic similarity between jellyfish and human beings.” ~ Kevin J. Peterson, contributor to The Human Genome project completed in 2003

Politicians are like jellyfish: all mouth and no spine.

"Nature talks in symbols; he who lacks imagination cannot understand her." ~ Abraham Miller

Fiddler Crabs change color in a regulated way, and are darker at low tide.

"Art is a harmony parallel with nature." ~ Paul Cezanne

the White Ibis has the right tools for fiddler crabbing here

'You may charge me with murder -- or want of sense --
(We are all of us weak at times):
But the slightest approach to a false pretense
Was never among my crimes!' ~ from "The Hunting of the Snark" by Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll, Fit the Fourth -- The Hunting.

Burger's Fiddler Crab -- Uca burgesi.

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home." ~ Gary Snyder

fiddler social on the mudflat

'Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.' ~ e. e. cummings

Red Mangrove -- Rhizophora mangle, in death still maintain the beachhead.

a Raccoon forages around Black and Red Mangrove roots on a gulf barrier island

"The vagabond, when rich, is called a tourist." ~ Paul Richard

Blue Crab -- Callinectes sapidus. Callinectes = 'beautiful swimmer', sapidus = 'savory'.

Mangroves continually shed their nutrient-rich leaves, providing a consistent source of glucose energy for an elaborate food chain. One acre of mangrove will shed about three tons of leaf and twig matter per year.

a young Blue Crab showing its business side

immature Little Blue Heron pulls a crab off the mangrove roots

Marbled Marsh Crab -- Sesarma ricordi

Gray Marsh Crab -- Sesarma cinereum

Florida Horse Conch -- Triplofusus giganteus, FL state shell, largest snail in the Americas grows to 2' long and can weigh more than 11 lbs.

Not a true conch, our largest gastropod preys on other large gastropods including tulip shells, lightning whelks, queen conchs, and more. Top predators play critical roles in maintaining ecosystem balance. Note to humans: do your duty.

Black Mangrove is the larval foodplant of the False-windowed Sphinx Moth -- Madoryx pseudothyreus, Hodges# 7843, MPG 228150

Marsh Periwinkle -- Littorina angulifera

'...the sea is circled and sways
peacefully upon its plantlike stem.' ~ William Carlos Williams, "Flowers By the Sea", 1935

Mangrove Buckeye -- Junonia genoveva

"The most important environmental issue is one that is rarely mentioned, and that is the lack of a conservation ethic in our culture." ~ Gaylord Nelson

Common Buckeye -- Junonia coenia