A strandline dominated by hornwrack still occurs on the shore but now several new things are beginning to be washed up in the strandline too.
The most interesting are the mermaids' purses; months before skates, rays and catfish (formally dogfish) laid their egg cases among the cobbles and bryozoans and within these egg cases the embryos developed into miniature adults. As they became too large for their egg cases they broke free and the discarded egg cases drifted with the waves and currents until finally, they were washed up on the shore.
If you find a mermaids' purse why not report your sighting to the shark trust great egg case hunt?. You can find out more about submitting sightings and about rays and sharks at
http://www.sharktrust.org/en/great_eggcase_hunt
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| The sandy shore with a strandline dominated by the remains of the bryozoan, hornwrack (Flustra foliacea). Habitat classification: LS.LSa.St (Strandline) and LS.LSa (Littoral sand). |
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| The sandy shore with a strandline dominated by the remains of the bryozoan, hornwrack (Flustra foliacea) |
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| A small spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) egg case. |
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| A Thornback (Raja clavata) egg case |
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| A spotted ray (Raja montagui) egg case. |
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| This was one of two, grey seal pups washed up on the shore that day. |
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