Thread by @numenini

#invertefest 🧵on amazing #marineinvertebrates of NW Sicily's Mediterranean. On night snorkel met incredible Spotted Bumble Bee Shrimp (Gnathophyllum elegans)! And Rugose Spider Crab (Herbstia condyliata)? but what's the zooming red shrimp that kept crashing into us? #MySwim 1/25

Other common crabs of the Gulf of Castellammare, Sicily include: Sea Urchin (Percon gibbesi) especially among break water boulders, Warty (Eriphia verrucosa), Runner Crab (Pachygrapsus marmoratus) - by anemone, & Mediterranean Intertidal Hermit (Clibanarius erythropus) crabs 2/25

These enchanting Rockpool/Grass Prawns (Palaemon elegans) were abundant in the crystal clear, bath-warm shallows of Calla Minnola, Levanzo. Love how you can see, on their head, the toothed rostrum & feather like structures at base of antennae & all their internal organs.
3/25

Another Rockpool Prawn (Palaemon elegans) & more Crustaceans - 2 Barnacles, Star (Chthamalus stellatus) & Perforated (Perforatus perforatus) - plus the Isopod, Italian Sea Slater (Ligia italica), there to greet us after each swim at Paternella, scampering above the tideline. 4/5

Met this monster on night snorkel at Paternella, Sicily - a 30cm Bearded Fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) - perhaps feasting on the mass die off of Mediterranean Sand Smelt we witnessed, the cause of which remains a mystery to us... #WormWednesday 5/25

Still of the 30cm monster Bearded Fireworm (Hermodice carunculata).
My favourite worm is extraordinary T-shaped Green Spoon Worm (Bonellia viridis) feeding in a little cave at Paternella.
Is this the fanworm, Spirobranchus polytrema, in a Bearded Arch shell? #WormWednesday 6/25

Are these, at Calla Minnola, Levanzo, Sicily, all signs of Polychaete worms?
- A lugworm (Arenicola) egg mass?
- 2 different tubes, maybe of worm shells rather than worms?
- Some large mounds (maybe 30cm) on the sandy sea bed.
#WormWednesday #Sicilia #Mediterranean #Sicily 7/25

Is this Organ Pipe Worm (Serpula vermicularis) by this Rock Sea Urchin (Paracentrotus lividus)?
A baby Rock Sea Urchin found hidden in Giant Hairy Triton shell (see⬇️)?
After Mediterranean Sand Smelt die off (see⬆️), saw Black Sea Urchin (Arbacia lixula) spines everywhere. 8/25

Paternella, Gulf of Castellammare, Sicily is the best place I' been in the Mediterranean for starfishes - as well as Red starfish (Echinaster sepositus), masses of fabulous Purple starfish (Ophidiaster ophidianus), mostly the velvety purple ones but also spotted individuals. 9/25

Only saw brittlestars - Smooth Brittle-star (Ophioderma longicaudum) - on night swim.
Common Sea Cucumbers of the Gulf of #Castellammare, Sicily are Cotton Spinner (Holothuria forskali), Patchy (H. (Platyperona) sanctori) & Sandy (H. (Roweothuria) poli).
#Echinodermata
10/25

Astonished to find reefscape at Faro de Capo san Vito, Trapani! Not made by corals or worms but a Vermetid reef made by the worm snail, Dendropoma cristatum with red algae Neogoniolithon brassica-florida. D.c. was also @ Zingaro plus these holes by bivalve ?Rocellaria dubia 11/25

More Vermetids I guess - Greater Worm-shell (Thylacodes arenarius)?
And at Calla Minnola, Levanzo, another Littorinimorpha, Giant Hairy Triton Snail (Monoplex parthenopeus) shell with a baby ?Rock Urchin living inside?
#MolluscMonday #MolluskMonday #Sicily #Mediterranean
12/25

Red-mouthed Rock-shell (Stramonita haemastoma), a familiar resident of the Mediterranean, but 1st time I've seen its eggs. What's going on with the shell lower R - are they eggs? A bryozoan eg Beania magellanica? #MolluscMonday #MolluskMonday #castellammaredelgolfo #sicily
13/25

Some more Neogastropods: Banded Dye-Murex (Hexaplex trunculus), Dove-shell (Columbella rustica), Spotted Pisania (Pisania striata) & Mediterranean Cone Shell (Conus ventricosus). #MolluscMonday #MolluskMonday #paternella #terrasini #Palermo #castellammaredelgolfo #sicily
14/25

Some extraordinary bivalves of Gulf of Castellammare - bizarre Noah's Ark Shell (Arca noae) in Capo San Vito's vermetid reef & Saddle Oyster (Anomia ephippium) at Levanzo.
Could below be Thorny Oyster (Spondylus gaederopus) & Flat Oyster (Ostrea edulis)? #MolluscMonday 15/25

At Calla Minnola, Levanzo lots Bearded Arch (Barbatia barbata) & another ark clam, Barbatia barbata.
Below, at Paternella, are these Common Piddock (Pholas dactylus)? Or is the one boring into the rock, Date Mussel (Lithophaga lithophaga)? #MolluscMonday #MolluskMonday 16/25

Delighted to find the stunning Nudibranch sea slug, Giant Doris (Felimare picta) relatively common, wandering along base of the cliffs at Paternella. Lots individual variation in colouring. Love its feathery gills & blue rhinophores (scent/taste receptors). #MolluscMonday 17/25

Rough (Patella ulyssiponensis) & Rayed Mediterranean (P. caerulea) limpets & a Common Octopus which I saw rather few of in Gulf of Castellammare. Always find it hard to compute that the limpet & octopus are both molluscs!
Is that the lower shell of bivalve welded to rock? 18/25

Boring sponges are anything but boring; here's 3 spp: Yellow (Cliona celata) & Green (C. viridis) at Calla Minnola, Levanzo & Red (C. rhodensis) at Paternella. Also in the Order Clionaida is Encrusting Orange Sponge (Spirastrella cunctatrix). #spongeThursday #Mediterranean 19/25

Some Demospongiae: at Baia di San Cataldo, Orange Puffball (Tethya aurantium) & Orange Crater (Agelas oroides) sponges; at Zingaro, Chicken Liver Sponge (Chondrilla nucula) v common & stunning swathes Bluish Encrusting Sponge (Phorbas tenacior) in the caves. #spongeThursday 20/25

Gulf of Castellammare Horny Sponges🔁: with Pale Anemone (Exaiptasia diaphana), Bath (Spongia officinalis); Leather (Scalarispongia scalaris) & Stinker (Sarcotragus fasciculatus) &, from Levanzo's Calla Minnola, Black Leather (Sarcotragus spinosulus) sponges.#spongeThursday 21/25

Top is another horny sponge, Variable Loggerhead (Ircinia variabilis)? Also in class Demospongia is the Haplosclerid Orange Encrusting (Haliclona (Halichoclona) fulva). If the purple is Flesh Sponge (Oscarella lobularis) it's in different class, Homoscleromorpha. #porifera
22/25

Some common Anemones of the Gulf of Castellammare & Levanzo, Sicily: Actinia mediterranea, Trumpet (Aiptasia mutabilis) (which is less common than Pale, above) & Snakelocks (Anemonia viridis) anemones, the latter inhabited by Anemone Opossum Shrimp (Leptomysis lingvura). 23/25

A spectacular feature of the Mediterranean Sea at Castellammare are the blankets of Yellow Star Coral (Astroides calycularis) illuminating the rock walls. Pig Tooth Coral (Balanophyllia europaea) much more discreet. At Zingaro also saw Pillow coral (Cladocora caespitosa). 24/25

Feather Hydroid (Pennaria disticha) common in #CastellammareDelGolfo. In July, few Mauve Stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) but still got stung! Fun to see Sea Squirt Cystodytes dellechiajei eg at Grotta delle colombe; more closely related to us than to sponges. #TunicateTuesday 25/25