So we're walking along the beach at Jordanstown, minding our own business, when one of the kids gets swallowed whole by this critter. It's about 20cm long (that's a 5 pence piece there to give you some scale), has dozens of fleshy little undulating legs; you can see it's segmented, and when bothered, it exudes a milky liquid, which I presume is either some sort of repellent, or possibly worm sexy stuff (whatever turns 'em on, I guess).OK, that's enough clues - who's going to identify the beast?
[I have managed to work out that it's probably an annelid of some sort...]
ReplyDeleteIt might also be some type of arthropod.
ReplyDeleteHi William, thanks for that; I don't think it's an arthropod: it was soft, and has frondy appendages rather than "legs". There is a division of the annelids called Polychaeta, and I think it slots in there somewhere. Good luck with your career! :-)
ReplyDeleteAm I being stupid or is it some sort of ragworm Shane ?
ReplyDeleteI've never seen anything quite that big though, and not at the beach at Jordanstown.
P.S. Did you know the park is going to be closed for 6 moths due to renovation ? The amenity building is going to be demolished and rebuilt. The new centre will have Cafe along with a brand new set of toilets. It should be impressive when finished next March.