Backyard Zoology · 24 June 2018
2018-06-24T19:17:46+10:00
https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/posts/pfbid02E7e8xpyUpBkegcvDyXmDJNpuGjm1NCK5qa6Gmc9shNXp6sZiU8XiwayvQBHmAcUVl

You'll be surprised to hear that we have been down at the rock pools again this weekend 😂 

Actually you WILL be surprised to hear that we also went down there last night, as in in the cold and the dark last night, as in leaving the house after 8:00PM and out till 10:00PM last night, as in under the stars last night! As soon as we pulled into the almost abandoned carpark I had second thoughts. I reparked my car under a light and went back and checked that it was locked...twice. I had just started to tell myself that I was being stupid and to calm the heck down when out of the complete and utter darkness two blokes appeared. Not doing anything, not saying anything, just standing in the dark with no torches or lights whatsoever just being blokes 😳😂

Truth be told we must have appeared quite the sight to them also with our parkas and head lamps and torches and phone torches and cameras. I must admit I swung around wildly a few times to see if they were following us, which of course they weren't but I'm not a fan of people at the best of times and even less so in the complete darkness on a winters night at the ocean.

Anyhow once we started exploring I relaxed a bit and we had a totally lovely evening. We had some interesting finds but not the octopus that Matt was really hoping for or the Carpet Sea Stars that I wanted so less than 9 hours later we were back there and this time the sun was lighting the way for us. Happy to report that Matt got to see the octopus (using tools no less - the octopus not the husband that is!!!) and I found a whole myriad of Carpet Sea Stars. Lovely creatures and the diversity of patterns and colours was super impressive. Even found one wrapped around some crab legs, no doubt doing the ol' evert-the-stomach-out-from-the-mouth-on-its-underside-and-into-the prey-and-let-the-enzymes-liquify-the-food-and-then-reabsorb-it-through-the-stomach-lining trick.

I've taken loads of pics because I'm obsessed with the wide range of colours and patterns and they remind me of those gorgeous faded Persian rugs which we could never have because one of my little dogs thinks a rug on the floor always requires the addition of puppy pee 😳

Carpet Sea Stars
Sandon Point

#sandonpoint #coalcoast #northernillawarra #seastars #carpetseastars #echinoderms #blueplanet #blueplanet2 #backyardzoology