Jo O'Keefe Copyright 2010. Photos may be used for educational purposes only. Contact me with inquiries.
Porifera: Sponges
Sponge
Sponge
Sponge
Sponge
Sponge
Red Beard Sponge
Sponges found at Huntington Beach State Park, Murrells Inlet, SC, 01/31/07. The one on the right is the red beard sponge, Microciona prolifera
Sponge
Sponge
Sponge
Sponge
Sponges found on Edisto Beach, SC, 01/19/07
   
Sponge
Sponge
Sponge
Sponges
Sponges
Sponge Pore
Excurrent pore, oscula, of sponge found on 01/31/07
Cnidaria: Anemones, Jellyfish, Hydroids and Corals
Sea Anemone
Sea Anemone
Sea Anemone
Sea Anemone
Sea Anemone
Sea Anemone
   
Bunodosoma cavernata
Spider Crab
Bunodosoma cavernata, warty sea anemone, Sunset Beach, NC, 05/01/07
Spider crab on sea anemone
Onion Anemone
Sea Onion Anemone
Sea onion anemone, probably Paranthus rapiformis, 11/17/06, Sunset Beach, NC
Paranthus rapiformis
Paranthus rapiformis
Sea onion anemones, Paranthus rapiformis
Anemone
Anemone
Sea Anemone
Sea Anemone, Calliactis tricolor
Australian Spotted Jellyfish, an invasive, nonindigenous species, Sunset Beach, NC, 10/26/07 -- approx. 29 inches wide. Each flip flop is 10 inches wide
   
Portuguese Man-o'-War, Physalia physalis, Sunset Beach, NC, 10/26/07 -- approx. 17 inches wide. Flip flop is 10 inches wide
Porpita
Blue Button
A Siphonophore called Porpita or "Blue Button." L top; R bottom; hundreds were on Ocean Isle Beach & Sunset Beach after Hurricane Charley
Cannonball Jellyfish
Cannonball Jellyfish
Cannonball Jellyfish
Cabbage Jellyfish
Cannonball or Cabbage Head Jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris
   
Jellyfish
Moon Jellyfish
Jellyfish
Moon Jellyfish
   
On February 17, 2010 I added a quart of ocean water to the small bucket in which I had ttwo Knobbed Whelks and a Lettered Olive. Moments later I noticed a tiny jellyfish about 1/4-inch wide pumping its way around. Unlike a Portuguese Man-of-war with many tentacles, this jelly has four pedalia. I made a 15-second video on the beach. The best view of the jellyfish is when it is swimming above the Lettered Olive. Wind was blowing the water rapidly. Here is the link for the first video: http://s1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/jookeefe/?action=view&current=100_0381.flv
   
At home I videotaped the little guy in a small pyrex bowl. By then he had slowed down. The water was murky. Finding him through my lens was difficult. Although longer, this video shows the jelly going up and down. Wait each time I zoomed in for the camera to refocus.. Here is the second link: http://s1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/jookeefe/?action=view&current=100_0384.flv
   
Atlantic Wing Oysters
Sea Whip
Sea Whips -- soft corals; Atlantic Wing Oysters on Sea Whip on Left
Sea Whip Barnacles
Polyp-covered Barnacles, Conopea galeata, on Sea Whips
 
Sea Whip
Sea Whip
Sea Whips found on Edisto Beach, SC, 01/18/07
Sea Pansy
Sea Pansy
Sea Pansies, Renilla reniformis - a soft coral composed of one large polyp covered with secondary polyps with a stalk called a peduncle
Sea Pansies with polyps
Sea Pansies in my salt water aquarium, with feeding polyps extended
   
Bryozoan
Halocordia disticha
Bryozoan
Hydroid, Halocordia disticha
   
Star Coral
Star Coral
Microscope views of Star Coral, Astrangia danae
Chordata: Tunicates & Fish
Colonial Tunicate
Colonial Tunicate, Eudistoma capsulatum, Sunset Beach, NC, 10/20/09
Colonial tunicate, Eudistoma hepaticum, sea liver, Sunset Beach, 11/04/06
   
Colonial Tunicates
Colonial Tunicate
Large tunicate, Eudistoma hepaticum, sea liver, found right after Hurricane Ophelia; there were hundreds of them
Colonial tunicate, Eudistoma hepaticum, sea liver, found on Sunset Beach on 11/14/06
Colonial Tunicates
Colonial Tunicate
Colonial Tunicates,various dried Eudistoma hepaticum and Aplidium stellatum
Aplidium stellatum, sea pork
   
Sea Squirts
Sea Squirt Siphons
Sea Squirts
Sea Squirts
Solitary Tunicates, Styela plicata, called Sea Squirts with incurrent and excurrent siphons
Dolphin
 
Smooth Dogfish Shark, Mustelus canis, Sunset Beach, NC, 3/17/08 -- 4 feet long
Atlantic Sharp-nosed Shark
Smooth Dogfish Shark, Mustelus canis, Sunset Beach, NC, 3/22/08 -- 3 feet long
Atlantic Sharp-nosed Shark -- 2-ft. long
Southern Stingray
Probably Southern Stingray, Dasyatis americana
Smooth Butterfly Ray, Gymnura micrura, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/03/09

 

Cownose Ray, Rhinoptera bonasus, Sunset Beach, NC, 05/30/08
Cownose Rays, Rhinoptera bonasus, Sunset Beach, NC, 06/05/08

 

Stingray

 

Stingray

Upside down stingray
   
Blue
Striped Burrfish
Blue
Striped Burrfish, Chilomycterus schoepfi, found on Sunset Beach, 11/30/06; note: the typical striped pattern has been bleached out on this carcass.
Skate egg cases -- referred to as Mermaids' purses
   

Mollusks -- Visit these separate web pages:

Gastropod Photos; Bivalve Photos; Microscope Gastropod Photos; Microscope Bivalve Photos

Octopus vulgaris
Octopus vulgaris
 
Octopus suckers
Octopus siphon
Octopus vulgaris found on Thanksgiving on Sunset Beach, 11/23/06
   
Octopus vulgaris
Octopus vulgaris
 
Octopus siphon
Octopus vulgaris
 
Octopus vulgaris, Sunset Beach, 12/05/04
Octopus vulgaris
Octopus vulgaris
Octopus vulgaris, Ocean Isle Beach, 09/28/04
Sea Hare
Sea Hare
Sea Hare
Sea Hare
Sea Hares, genus Aplysia, Sunset Beach, 06/06
   
Mitch, Lisa, Quinn, Braxton, and Davis Newman kindly shared these videos of a sea hare filmed on Sunset Beach, NC, on 7/19/09. If you have difficulty seeing them, try using Quick Time.

Arthropods -- Visit the crab web page: Crab Photos.htm

Callichirus major
Callichirus major
Ghost Shrimp, Callichirus major, female, Sunset Beach, NC, 04/10/10 -- sucked up from a Ghost Shrimp hole using a yabbie pump
   
Ghost Shrimp
Ghost Shrimp
 
Callichirus major
Ghost Shrimp,probably Callichirus major, found with the tip of its large claw poking out of the sand, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/02/07. It was limp & soon died. Ghost shrimp make hundreds of tiny holes near the ocean, connected by underground tunnels. One can understand how they do that with claws like this. The body of the shrimp, excluding the claw, was 5 inches long. The large claw was 1.5 inches long, for a total "length" of 6.5 inches. The photo directly above is the same claw photographed nearly three years later.
   
Ghost Shrimp waste pellets
Thalassinid Burrow
Ghost Shrimp waste pellets
   
Probably both mantis shrimp, extracted from Ghost Shrimp hole using yabbie pump, Sunset Beach, NC, 04/10/10
   
Peppermint Shrimp, Lysmata wurdimani, Sunset Beach, NC, 07/03/09 -- found in seaweed and sea drift
   
Caprellic Amphipods
Amphipods and Isopod
Skeleton Shrimp -- Caprellid Amphipods, another species of amphipod, and an isopod found in seaweed
Balanus eburneus
Megabalanus coccopoma
Balanus eburneus, bleached
Possibly Megabalanus coccopoma, an invasive species of barnacle, surrounded by local barnacles and the mussel Brachidontes exustus, found on Edisto Island, SC, 01/19/07
   
Barnacle
Barnacle
Possibly a Megabalanus coccopoma barnacle (R), an invasive species, and another acorn barnacle (L), possibly the ivory barnacle, Balanus eburneus, Wrightsville Beach, NC, 06/29/06
Probably a species of Balanus, probably either B. venustus or B. amphitrite, Wrightsville Beach, NC, 06/29/06
Acorn Barnacles
Live barnacles photographed through microscope
Live goose barnacles that were next to the barnacles above, 06/29/06
   
Annelida -- Worms
Polychaete worm tube tips
Diopatra cuprea
Polychaete worms, Chaetopterus variopedatus, called "mucous-bag feeders"
Decorated tube worms, Diopatra cuprea, that have a leathery case between themselves and the shells. Although they are polychaete worms, they are active predators.
Polychaete worm tubes
Polychaete worm tubes
Empty casings of Polychaete worms, Chaetopterus variopedatus, 05/09/06
Lugworm egg case
Lugworm egg case, 05/09/06
Nereidid
Bryozoans
Rubbery Bryozoan
Bryozoan on Tulip
Rubbery Bryozoan
Bryozoan-encrusted Tulip
 
Bryozoan
Bryozoan, Sunset Beach, 11/04/06
 
Miscellaneous
Egg Cases
Egg Cases
Questional Egg Cases -- thin threads that broke upon touch and matched the sand -- 06/28/06, Sunset Beach
Sea Lettuce
Purple Laver
Sea Lettuce -- 18" in diameter, stem at center
Purple laver, Porphyra, 04/06
American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, Oyster Bay Golf Course, Sunset Beach, NC, 3/31/08
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Dead Loggerhead Sea Turtle