Rockling are eel-like in appearance, with two dorsal fins. The first of these is a fringe of short rays that ripple constantly. The shore rockling (Caidropsarus mediterraneus) can be found in rock pools, where it uses its mouth barbels to find food. Most are dark brown, but some are paler.

(Photo source)

That’s right: giant, majestic balls. In the sand. The beach north of Moeraki on New Zealand’s South Island is strewn with large, near-spherical boulders. Their origin is unclear, but the most widely accepted scientific view is that they are mineral consecrations that formed sixty million years ago in mudstones—layers of softer sedimentary rock on the seafloor. These mudstones were later uplifted and now form a cliff at the back of the beach. There, gradual erosion exposes and releases the boulders, which eventually roll down onto the beach. The boulders are up to three meters in diameter and some weigh several tons.

The Giant’s Causeway is a tightly packed cluster of some 40,000 columns of basalt (a black volcanic rock). It’s located at the foot of a sea cliff that rises ninety meters on the northern coast of Northern Ireland. Although legend says the formation was created by a giant named Finn McCool, it in fact resulted from the volcanic eruption some sixty million years ago, one of a series that brought about the opening of the North Atlantic. The eruption spewed up vast amounts of liquid basalt lava, which cooled to form the columns. They are up to thirteen meters tall and are mainly hexagonal, although some have four, five, seven, or eight sides.

(Source: tourismontheedge.com)

Shore Clingfish (Lepadogaster lepadogaster)

Length: 7cm

Location: Northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea

Common Shore Crab (Carcinus maenas)

Length: 6cm

Location: Northeastern Atlantic from Norway to West Africa

anoceanactivist:

To the beach (by sleepychinchilla)

(via fyeah-seacreatures)