Ancient inhabitants of the rocky coast. coral reef ecosystem
- August, 29th 2012The diversity of marine life on a sandy bottom can hardly be compared with life literally seething among the underwater rocks. Here there is a place for algae bushes to gain a foothold, and among these dense thickets countless fish, crustaceans, and mollusks can hide and live. There are a lot of shelters here - caves, cracks, where you can wait out the storm and hide from predators.
Any solid surface in the sea is used repeatedly: an algae is fixed on a stone, other algae, sponges, bryozoans grow on it; someone else settles on them; tiny mollusks and various crustaceans crawl along the branches. Of course, life on rocks is much richer and brighter than sandy. And in order to see it, scuba gear is not needed, since its greatest diversity is not in the blue depths, but relatively shallow - up to 10m. So, knowing how to dive correctly with fins (or without), but without fail with a mask, you can easily see all the brightest and most wonderful.
There are more than a hundred species in the Black Sea. But the most important and numerous underwater thickets are formed by the main alga - brown - called bearded cystoseira. Its forests surround the shores of our sea wherever there is solid ground. This is exactly the algae that, after a storm, forms whole shafts along the beaches, smelling sharply of iodine - the very smell of the sea. Visitors to this pungent smell is not too to their liking, but it is so unusually memorable!
In these drying brown bales, one can see amphipods and other small crustaceans, familiar from the sandy shallows, very similar to wood lice. These are isopods, or isopods. They are also called spherols-watermelons, for the fact that they seem to “roll” among the stones of the beach and the passed grass. They not only look like wood lice - they are their closest relatives. Know that our ordinary gray ground woodlice are also isopods, and they must be respected simply for the antiquity of their kind (besides, they are completely harmless creatures). This unique crustacean has managed to reach the land completely and still lives on land with gills that are protected by a shell-cap.
The closest relatives of wood lice and isopods are sea cockroaches, but they have nothing to do with our land cockroaches. They just look a little like them in shape, and in color - grayish-transparent and very cute. Very small, unlike the North Sea "cockroaches" the size of a palm (!). They spend their whole quiet life among underwater algae and, like isopods and crustaceans, serve as orderlies. Thanks to all of them, the sea does not smell of decay. So in the sea there is no one unsympathetic, unnecessary, and everyone works to the best of their ability and ability for the benefit of their Big House. And we must not forget that we come to this House of Theirs as guests and behave with dignity and nobility, not outrageous, ruining and destroying everything in our path, but humanly. Have you forgotten how?
A few steps from the shore, among the stones and algae - shrimps - elegant palemons. They are very beautiful, almost transparent, with magnificent blue and orange bandages on the legs. If you sit quietly in the water next to them, you can see that the shrimp do not swim, but walk slowly, turning over their legs (and how can they not get confused in them ?!) - they are grazing: they nibble on young algae seedlings. But if the shrimp feels your presence, then in an instant it will fly away from you, like a spring, in an unknown direction. This jump is the work of a muscular abdomen and caudal fin. On the branches of coastal algae, a sea goat “grazes” - a tiny crustacean only 3-4 mm long - tender and transparent. Quite a large shrimp - speckled palemon. It is distinguished by many small specks and wide lobes on the muzzle. Palemon prefers slightly saline waters, therefore, as a rule, it is found near the mouths of rivers flowing into the Black Sea. It is there that the locals collect them in nets, so that later, no longer transparent, but red, boiled, they are sold along the beaches and streets of resort towns.
One of the typical inhabitants of the rocky coastline is crabs. It must be said that crabs, crayfish, shrimps, lobsters, lobsters - all these are the names of close relatives from the order of decapods - the most complex and highly organized crustaceans. Shrimps are called small crayfish, and crabs (this is the English word - crab) are crayfish that do not have a muscular abdomen with a fin (therefore they cannot jump back). Lobsters and lobsters (French names) are large sea crayfish, and lobsters are the same, only in English. The body of crabs is flattened and shortened; the head and chest are covered with a carapace (shell) of a rectangular or oval shape. On the ventral side of the cephalothorax there are 5 pairs of legs, and the first pair is always with claws (the limbs of crabs are regenerated, that is, restored when lost, like the tails of lizards).
The very first on the rocky coast you can meet marble crabs. These are the only Black Sea crabs that run out of the water and travel along coastal rocks and rocks. However, at the first sign of danger, they instantly take off and rush into the water or the nearest gap. Because of their dark color and long legs, they are often referred to as spider crabs. They are small in size (no more than 4 cm) and you will not find them deeper than 5 m. If a marble crab is huddled in a slot, then you can’t pull it out of there for anything! Yes, and it’s not worth it - it can bite quite strongly with sharp claws. If you still caught a crab, then hold it by the sides of the shell at the back. And then it's better to let go - you should not make fun out of a living being. There is nothing special in the Black Sea crabs because of their small size.
Another notable crab is lilac, or water-loving. It is slower and more inconspicuous than marble, and is found not only in shallow water, but at depths up to 15m. He has an unusual ability to dig into the ground and stay there for no reason for weeks (!) With such habits, perhaps you can call him a water-loving philosopher. Otherwise, what else can you do with practically no food and air, how not to philosophize? There is another mystery of lilac crabs - their massive kills. They can happen both in summer and in autumn, and then their small stiff bodies dot the whole coast. Maybe some kind of disease, unknown to other types of crabs, so overnight mows down their lilac rows, or maybe it's from their love for a solitary philosophy: "woe from wit" ...
Or here is such an amazing specimen - an invisible crab. Invisible - because no one has yet been able to see him among the algae (unless you fill a large basin of water with algae and “calculate” him by moving among them). He himself is rather thin, with long legs, and at the same time he is also an amateur gardener - he plants various small algae bushes on himself to disguise himself. Yes, and walks like a flower bed among the grass - go and see.
The largest crabs of the Black Sea are stone (7-8 cm wide). They prefer to live deeper, although they are often found not far from the coast, but this is only in deserted rocky places. If all benthic crustaceans are primarily scavengers (according to the nature of their diet), then the stone crab, strong and aggressive, can be a fast and agile predator. In ambush, he lies in wait for snails, worms and small fish. Its claws have monstrous strength - they bite, like seeds, shells of mollusks and hermit crabs. Their muscle fibers at the molecular level differ from the muscles of animals and humans. In this we absolutely lose to them. The color of the stone crab's shell is always the same as that of the stones among which it lives. Basically, it is a red-brown color, but stone crabs living among yellow sandstones are themselves quite light. They are quite pugnacious among themselves: they fight for territory or prey up to the loss of claws (among the stones you can often see their separately-rolling fighting organs).
It looks like a stone hairy crab, only its size is half as large. And the shell of a dark purple color is covered with a thick layer of yellowish bristles-hairs. It lives closer to the shore, under rocks. Its diet is not too different from other crabs, but it is especially dangerous for various gastropod mollusks - like nuts, their strong shells prick, only fragments fly.
We also have a very small crab - a pea crab. Usually he lives among mussels, sometimes even inside the shell of a live mollusk (!). But you can find them on the stones of shallow water, only it is very difficult to see them - they are the size of a child's fingernail.
Remember, we talked about hermits-diogenes, who prefer the sandy bottom to the stones? So here, in the stone underwater kingdom, there is a kind of hermit crabs - klibanaria. He is several times larger than Diogenes and chooses for himself not small shells of nana or tricia, but empty shells of rapans. Rapanas, like all mollusks, move rather slowly along the bottom, but if you see that one of them is literally rushing over the stones, then grab it and look rather - you will surely see our wonderful Klibanaria. He is stunningly handsome, like an inhabitant of a coral reef - bright red legs and mustaches and the same red, but also with white polka dots claws!
Another small crab lives on underwater rocks (shell width is not more than 2 cm). He lives among mussels and has a deep pink color with an orange underbelly. His whole shell and paws are studded, as if with light hard moss, with numerous outgrowths. That's what it's called, the moss-legged crab.
If in the sand we met burrows of mole crayfish, then in the biocenosis of stones there is a “filterer” (filtering is such an unusual way of feeding) - the crab-like crayfish of pisidia. He sits under the stones, clinging to them, and waves his paws, forcing water with all kinds of food under the stone - he feeds like that, preferring not to go for food himself, but for her to go to him, and, I suppose, at the same time he says: “according to pike command, at my will ... "
The stones are overgrown - also the kingdom of gastropod mollusks - armored and nudibranchs. Nudibranch mollusks do not have shells and rather resemble slugs crawling along algae branches. There are few of them, but the world of shellfish is very diverse. Who has not collected entire collections of shells along the seashore as souvenirs before leaving home? But all this is empty houses of mollusks. The way of life of all of them is very similar: almost all of them eat with the help of a radula - a special grater tongue, with which they scrape their food from stones and algae stems (almost everything is eaten). There are also those who, having opened their shells, are waiting for someone of the right size to grab it and digest it. There are quite a lot of them all, but the most known to us are those whom we ourselves are not averse to eating, namely: mussels and rapana. The large and beautiful gastropod mollusk rapana is already quite familiar to us (its lacquered shells of various calibers are sold in all souvenir shops), in fact, it appeared relatively recently (about 60 years ago) and arrived from the Far East with ballast water of ships. Brought it to us on our head!
Since then, many settlements of the bivalve mussel, our other edible mollusk, have suffered greatly. After all, the rapana is a cruel predator that paralyzes its victims with poison and eats away their bodies with its proboscis. The villain prefers mussels, although he also attacks oysters, scallops, cockles and even crabs. The meat of the rapana itself is quite tough and the longer you cook it, the more “rubber” it becomes - not like, in my opinion, tender tasty mussels. And it would be absolutely impossible for us and such a neighbor to be left without mussels, but smart people came up with the idea of growing them on special marine farms, especially since mussels breed all year round, releasing a huge number of planktonic larvae into the water. And their nutritional qualities are only slightly inferior to the famous oysters. Mussels live in mass settlements - "brushes". On any solid object in the sea (on a stone, on piles under bridges), you can see their dark wedge-shaped valves attached to the surface with a bundle of thin threads - byssus.
It is remarkable that mussels are the most active filterers of sea water: they receive oxygen and food (phytoplankton) by passing water through their mantle. One large mussel filters 3.5 liters of water per hour. Can you imagine how clean the water along the coast would be if there were enough of these mollusks in it? Almost everyone knows mussels, but not everyone knows the chiton - another shellfish. The tunic sits on its “leg”, breathes through gills and feeds with the help of a radula. Its calcareous shell consists of 8 separate scutes with a crest-keel in the middle. For them, our sea is rather fresh, so they do not grow more than 15 mm in our country. And there is one eccentric among the mollusks called petrikola. So during his lifetime he voluntarily puts himself in a cell and lives in it until the end of his days as a prisoner. Petrikola the Prisoner, that's what we'll call him. This mollusk pickles minks in limestone with its acid secretions, settles there, and then, as it grows, only expands the chamber, leaving the entrance narrow (no entry, no exit). Its ribbed uneven doors remain inside even after the death of the inhabitant.
Isn't it all wonders of the underwater world?! - I'll ask you. Maybe someone will not agree, but it will be just out of harm;))
Mbuna Group
The unusual hobby for cichlids in the early seventies is due to the appearance of the Malawian cichlid group "Mbuna", which received this name from local fishermen. The inhabitants of the rocky shores of Lake Malawi, feeding mainly on algae, covering rocks and stone placers with a lush carpet to a depth of 20 meters, were distinguished by an exceptionally bright color that competed with the color of coral fish. The most popular among the "Mbuna" were representatives of the following genera: cynotilapia (Cynotilapia Regan, 1921), iodotropheus (Iodotropheus Oliver et Loiselle, 1972), labeotropheus (Labeotropheus Ahl, 1927), labidochromis (Labidochromis Trewavas, 1935), melanochromis (Melanochromis Trewavas, 1935), petrotilapia (Petrotilapia Trewavas, 1935) and pseudotropheus (Pseudotropheus Regan, 1921).
It turned out that by carefully selecting the communities of these vegetarian fish in terms of size, color, and temperament, one can create solid collections in one large aquarium, the device of which was described earlier. Instead of algae, lettuce, spinach, dandelion and even parsley leaves, steamed oats and peas, black and white bread, etc. can serve as food. Small additions of animal feed - coretra, daphnia, enchitra and bloodworm, high-protein dry feed (up to 20-30% of the total) - supplement the diet. Fish in the aquarium grow larger than in nature, and give numerous offspring. And, which is also very important, with such a diet, cichlids do not touch many aquatic plants.
Melanochromis Johanni (Melanochromis johanni (Eccles, 1973))- one of the most popular Malawian cichlids, which stands out for its exceptionally beautiful yellow-orange coloring of fry and females. Males with the onset of puberty completely change their color, becoming blue-black with two bright bluish-blue stripes along the body. Such a transformation for "Mbuna" is not uncommon, which, of course, causes understandable bewilderment among novice cichlid lovers. However, at an early age, it is quite difficult to distinguish between males and females. Ceteris paribus, males are somewhat larger and have more pronounced yellow spots-ki-releasers on the anal fin, similar to eggs. The size in nature does not exceed 8 cm, the females are smaller.
Reproduction is the same as other Malawians. The females, which incubate the eggs for three weeks in their mouths, hide among the rocks in shallow water.
Fuelleborn's labeotropheus (Labeotropheus fuelleborni Ahl, 1927)- very polymorphic and impressive appearance. Depending on the habitat, individuals are found from dark blue to blue and from almost orange to bright yellow with black-brown spots. For the elongated nose shape characteristic of the genus, the fish was also called the tapir cichlid. Under favorable conditions, the fish grow up to 18-20 cm, while the females are approximately 25% smaller. The habitat zone of labeotropheus in nature is limited by the upper seven meters of rocky ridges, lushly overgrown with algae, where they find places for feeding, shelter and spawning grounds. They are very territorial, especially during the mating season, and need a large aquarium, preferably at least 1.5 meters long. Spawning succeeds better in the cave, as it is noted that the fertilization of eggs occurs outside the oral cavity of the female and the fertilized eggs remain unprotected for a longer time than usual. Three weeks later, the females release the fry in shallow water, where they further develop and grow in well-heated water. In conditions of aquarium cultivation at the age of 8-9 months, fish are already able to bear offspring.
Pseudotropheus zebra (Pseudotropheus zebra (Boulenger, 1899))- one of three species of Malawian cichlids that first appeared in Russia in 1973. Differs in surprising polymorphism. More than 50 natural color variants are currently known. The classic variations of the zebra have received the following generally accepted designations:
BB- (Black Bars) - striped zebra; corresponds to the traditional form of coloration in males with dark transverse stripes on a pale blue background;
AT- (Blue) - blue form;
W- (White) - white form;
OB- (Orange Blotch) - yellow-orange form with black-brown spots;
R.B.- (Red-Blue) - orange-red female and blue male, the so-called red zebra;
RR- (Red-Red) - a red female and a red male, the so-called double red zebra.
Other color variations Ps. zebra is named by indicating, together with the designation, the name of the area in which the capture was made. For example, the blue zebra from Maleri Island (Ps. zebra in Maleri Island); striped zebra Chilumba (Ps. sp. zebra BB Chilumba); golden zebra Kavanga (Ps. sp. Kawanga), etc.
It should be noted that the color of fish depends to a large extent on their age and condition. So, for example, fry of the classic striped zebra have a uniform grayish-brown color, which only at the age of 6-7 months begins to turn into striped in males and spotted in females; RB red zebra fry are brightly colored already at a young age, while females are orange-red, and males look dark gray and only become pale blue at sexual maturity.
Frightened during capture and transportation, the fish rapidly lose their brightness, which is almost natural for cichlids, so their true color can only be judged by adult active specimens grown using vitamin-rich feed and in a calm environment. If stronger territorial fish live in the neighborhood, Malawian cichlid juveniles may never (!) reach the color characteristic of the species, and the only way to solve the problem is to put a group of fish weakened by constant stress of oppression into a separate aquarium. Here, normal coloration can be expected within a few days.
The apogee of the manifestation of the vital activity of fish and the development of secondary sexual characteristics associated with this - elongation of the fins, an increase in brightness and stabilization of color, the development of a fat pad in the forehead in males, etc. - is the repeated participation of fish in reproduction. The resulting cycles of mate selection, territory acquisition and defense, clearing of the intended spawning site(s), pre-spawning games with demonstrations of strength and beauty, spawning itself and the set of most vigorous actions determined by this contribute to the development of coloration and, if possible, to put it, the self-affirmation of males and females as true owners in the aquarium. At the same time, the amateur should not forget that the females of the Mbuna, as well as the males, are territorial and armed with sharp grater teeth that allow them to scrape algae from rocks, and they will not miss the opportunity to use them in defense and attack, when it comes to expulsion from its territory of a potential invader. That is why it is impossible to recommend the combination of females engaged in incubation of eggs in the mouth in small aquariums.
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At low tide, wide horizontal stripes of different colors can be seen on coastal stones and rocks. They form communities of living organisms. Lichens live in the upper, supralittoral zone, which is moistened only by splashes of waves, and blue-green algae usually settle near the high water level. Among the few animals living in this zone are some species of terrestrial insects and air-breathing littorinas, or shore snails.
Below is the littoral, or tidal, zone, which is either exposed or covered with water. The most characteristic crustaceans for it are sea acorns, which form a white strip on the stones, consisting of their shells. And the most common plant is fucus, bushy branched ribbon-like algae.
The most densely populated sublittoral zone, where stones are exposed only at low tide. In dense thickets of kelp and other algae, a variety of animals hide, including starfish, sea urchins and crustaceans. Behind this zone begins the kingdom of fish and other inhabitants of the open sea.
Life in the surf
One of the main problems that the animals face here is the waves continuously breaking on the rocky shore. There are two common ways to survive in such conditions: hide from the waves or hold on to the rocks as tightly as possible. Many animals find shelter under rocks or in crevices. Some sea urchins anchor themselves in cracks between rocks with their quills. Bivalve mollusks - petricola - and worms even drill holes in calcareous rocks and soft clay.
However, most of the inhabitants of the surf simply cling to the rocks. Seaweeds are held tightly by root-like processes. Sea acorns attach to rocks, secreting a special secret that firmly sticks them to a wide variety of substrates. Mussels use a system of tiny cords. Ascidians, sponges and anemones also belong to numerous sedentary animals, permanently attached to one place. Saucers, snails, and other mollusks are held onto the rocks with the foot acting as a sucker.
mussels
Mussels live both in the middle and in the lowest zones, often forming large clusters - mussel banks. Each individual animal is attached to the surface of stones or underwater rocks with the help of many strong threads, consisting of a secret secreted by the byssus gland, which is located in the fleshy leg of the mussel. When in contact with water, the secret hardens. As a result, thin fibers are formed - byssus threads, they surprisingly firmly attach the mollusk to the stone.
Closely pressed to each other on banks, including artificial ones, mussels cannot change their position and remain in one place all the time. But a single mussel is still capable, stretching out its leg and straining enough, to break the threads, move to a new place and reattach there.
What happens at low tide?
Most fish and other animals that are able to move independently, at low tide, simply move away some distance from the coast, some of the inhabitants of the surf zone find temporary shelter in the water lingering in the depressions. Other animals wait out this short period in damp crevices where they are protected from direct sunlight. Many, in order to protect themselves from drying out, hide in water-soaked weaves of algae.
Mussels and sea acorns permanently attached to one place cannot hide. At low tide, they tightly close their shells, inside which there is little water, which makes it possible for them to avoid drying out. Saucers use a similar tactic. During high tide, these mollusks actively feed, scraping algae from the rocks with their rough, like sandpaper, tongues. At low tide, they each return to their place - in a small depression that they made in the stone. Pressing into this hole and clinging to its bottom with a muscular leg, they await the next tide.
Sea stars
Despite their English name, starfish, starfish are certainly not fish. They belong to the phylum Echinoderm, to which sea urchins also belong. Starfish do not swim, but crawl on hundreds of flexible tubular legs that protrude from grooves on the underside of their rays and end in suckers. With the help of these legs, starfish are attached to stones, and some species even open mollusk shells with them. A typical starfish has five rays, but some species have up to forty rays. If one of the beams breaks off, the star will not die, moreover, soon a new one will grow in place of the lost beam. Even more surprising is that if the beam came off along with a sufficiently large section of the central part of the star's body, then over time this beam turns into a full-fledged starfish.
As a child, I often went to visit my grandparents in the Krasnodar Territory, and I myself lived with my parents in one of the cities not far from the northern capital. For me, these “business trips” were a joy, three whole months on the street with friends, sun, heat, watermelons at 10 kopecks per kilogram. And after the vile climate of the north-west of our Motherland, this can generally be called a paradise. Many years have passed since then, and now I live with my girlfriend all in the same city. In the summer of 2010, the girl told me that our climate is bad, we should have a rest somewhere in the south - come on, she says, we’ll go to Egypt or Turkey. And then it dawned on me - why go to Turkey, when my relatives live in our south? That's what they decided on. And after a couple of weeks, we were already drinking tea with her in a carriage tapping on the rails. Next, a village with a population of 70 thousand inhabitants was waiting for us, 500 kilometers from the Black Sea. After staying with my grandmother for two days, we were sent to the sea by bus. To be honest, this part of the journey was much less pleasant: almost a ten-hour bus ride, in hot weather, without air conditioning - just a mockery.
We arrived at a Soviet-style pioneer camp located to the east of the village of Novomikhailovsky. It was built, apparently, a long time ago, but the management carefully followed it. The old houses, although they were built from crooked, dried boards, were completely painted recently. In general, the camp was quite tidy, well-groomed and did not at all create a feeling of abandonment and decay. A few words about how we got here: in the village where my grandparents lived, there was only one machine-building plant, and my grandfather had a friend who was one of its leaders. Through him, my girlfriend and I made a weekly trip to this camp almost free of charge. In fact, we were sent on vacation as factory workers.
The camp itself was located at a fairly high altitude relative to the sea, a beautiful view of the sea opened from the edge of the cliff, and at night you simply cannot imagine a more romantic place: a perfectly flat moon path appeared on the surface of the water, and it seemed as if you could walk along it. But the descent to the shore was a real hell for the well-fed (which, thank God, neither I nor my girlfriend are): a huge, long staircase passing through thickets of trees growing on the mountainside. Just before the beach (about ten meters to the end) the stairs appeared from the thickets of trees and from the beach one could see who was walking along it. Sometimes parents stood in this place and made sure that their children did not swim far. It took 15 minutes to fully climb the stairs. However, with all this, literally every five meters a lantern hung above the stairs, which made night walks along it very romantic. In general, for a young couple there was everything to have a great rest. The beach itself was located a couple of kilometers from the resort village - if my memory serves me, then it is called Novomikhailovsky - but at the same time this very beach is located between two ledges, and as a result it seems that there is no civilization around for many kilometers. This solitude was very pleasant to me and my girlfriend.
In this camp, I met my old friend - Zhenya. He himself seemed to be from Krasnoyarsk and also came for the summer to his grandmother in that very village in the Krasnodar Territory. In general, in childhood, we spent every summer with him together. I stayed in his house, and my girlfriend went to our house. When I was chatting with Zhenya, a most amusing idea suddenly came into my head, as it seemed to me then: to scare my girlfriend. Having laughed, Zhenya and I developed a plan: on the last night before leaving, the girl and I were going to take a walk along the beach at night, at that very moment Zhenek in a black mask from the Scream was supposed to crawl out of the thickets and start chasing us. We also agreed that when I run away, I will lead the girl to a dead end in the rocks, and at that moment Zhenek will take off his mask, and we will all laugh together.
The next night, as planned, my girlfriend and I went for a walk on the beach. The weather was simply amazing: calm, smooth water, like glass with a moonlit path, the silence is broken only by a slight swaying of the water. We walk along the shore, pebbles rattle under our feet. Slowly, we began to approach the thickets, and I already began to chuckle to myself. Suddenly, Zhenek comes out of the thickets - it must be admitted that he managed to get out spectacularly; I was afraid that when he got out of the bushes, he would make a noise and turn around, spoiling the rally from the very beginning. But he did not disappoint: he stepped out of the thicket with even, straight steps, pebbles crunched under his feet. I felt my girlfriend's nails dig into my hand, so hard that I almost screamed. For a second we froze, and then Zhenek suddenly walked sharply in our direction (at that moment there were fifteen meters between us). At the same second, the girl screamed and ran in the opposite direction (we walked towards the stairs), dragging me along with her. We ran very fast, my slates even flew off my feet, and the girl kept dragging me along with her. I turned back and saw Zhenya following us - he was walking with a quick, confident step, and in the moonlight he looked very scary: somewhere he found something like a black hoodie, long, to the very ground, and there was a hood on his head. I chuckled to myself and abruptly dragged my girlfriend towards the very dead end we agreed on. In fact, we ran away not far - the stairs with flashlights were perfectly visible from here. Having run into a dead end, I dragged the girl with me into a corner that was hidden from the moonlight, we pressed our foam against the cold stone and froze. I covered the girl's mouth with my hand and gestured: "Shh!". I myself was already bursting with laughter, I was ready to neigh like a horse at any moment. But the girl was trembling so much that I thought the stone behind us was about to shake. Suddenly, very close by, we heard the crunch of pebbles under our feet. The footsteps came closer, all at the same steady pace. Zhenek appeared in front of the stones, he stopped abruptly and seemed to peer into the darkness. The girl grabbed me with her nails again. Zhenek began to move in our direction, but with slower steps. After taking a few steps, he stopped again and began to turn his head.
And then for some reason I stopped bursting with laughter, the fun inside was replaced by confusion, and a slight chill ran down my back: I heard Zhenek, turning his head from side to side, sniffing. Yes, he sniffed like a dog looking for a trail. A variety of thoughts flashed through my head, and a shiver went through my body. Still not believing in the reality of what was happening, I was numb and could not move. And then my brain gave me a chilling thought: Zhenya’s “Scream” mask, although it was black, was made of glossy plastic, which in the moonlight, even under the hood at least once, would have reflected the moonlight. And the one in front of us had solid black under the hood. Now, realizing that it was not Zhenya standing seven meters in front of me, I realized that I needed to act. I turned and looked at the girl, she closed her eyes, trembled, but did not make a sound. With my bare feet, I carefully groped for the pebbles, afraid to make any sound. I managed to put one of the stones on my foot. What stood in front of us continued to turn its head and sniff, but did not move from its place. Horror fettered my whole body, but I understood that we could not stand here like this all night and not make a sound. And suddenly one of the lanterns on the stairs blinked. I began to peer and realized that the lantern did not blink at all, just someone passing by blocked its light. And then I broke out in a cold sweat. In the distance I saw Zhenya, who was carrying a mask in his hand. I was ready to scream in fear, but, thank God, I restrained myself and in the next second I swung my leg and launched the stone forward. The stone rang loudly, and at the same moment what was standing in front of us soared (I can’t call it a jump) a couple of meters into the air and collapsed where the stone hit. The girl screamed, I, without wasting a second, grabbed her with all my might and rushed towards the stairs. The girl kept screaming, the echo rolled along the beach, and in my ears I heard only the wild beating of the heart and the roar of the pebbles behind us. This creature realized that it had been deceived, and now it was rushing after us in a completely different way than before: it ran, covering two or three meters with one step. I squeezed everything I could out of myself, and now we were already running along the iron stairs ...
When we got to our house, the girl was already just sobbing and writhing in hysterics. I rushed to calm her down and said that it was a hoax, that our pursuer was my friend Zhenya, with whom I agreed to scare her. I must admit that I did not think that she could hit me like that, but in a second I was already sitting on the floor, and my eyes were swimming from a sickly blow to the jaw. The girl collapsed into bed, still sobbing, but after a while the sobs stopped and she fell asleep. I lay and looked at the ceiling. I still couldn't believe it all. And why Zhenya and I ...
Zhenya! I completely forgot about him, but he stayed somewhere with this creature. I wanted to run back, but I couldn't. Fear kept me from getting out of bed. I stayed in bed and stared up at the ceiling. After a while, fatigue took its toll and I fell asleep.
The next day we packed our things and prepared to leave. The girl did not talk to me, and the training camp was dull. And I still had a feeling of fear. When we were stuffing things into the luggage departments, I ran into Zhenya, who also did not want to talk to me at first, and then said that, as promised, he went downstairs, climbed into the bushes, but then he wanted to relieve himself, and he went in deeper into the bushes. Then a wild cry of a girl rolled along the beach, and then he heard a clatter on the stairs. When he got out of the bushes, there was no one on the beach. He thought that we scared him on purpose. As a result, Zhenek was offended, the girl did not talk to me for another two days, and for some time I could not sleep at night and was shaking with horror.
Such shores are the best place to photograph the inhabitants of the littoral, as they have the richest variety of life forms, and, in addition, in this case, there are no problems typical for photographing on muddy and sandy shores. The best time to visit the rocky shores is in spring as the low shore is then open at low tide and the photographer has a rare opportunity to see and photograph the normally hidden life of the sea.
The most interesting thing for a photographer on the rocky shores is in the bays. On the rocky shores of these natural aquariums one can usually find the richest set of living forms. Masses of brown algae such as bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) and jagged wedge (Fucus serratus) can cover large boulders that are exposed at low tide. These large seaweeds are best shot in natural light, as flash usually causes unwanted, intense light reflections. Seaweed, which becomes available for photography at low tide, is best photographed on a bright sunny day with almost cloudless skies. A tripod can be used to obtain maximum depth of field at slow shutter speeds and small apertures. The presence of algae often indicates a change in plant associations near the coast. Using a wide-angle lens, one can demonstrate how one species replaces another as it approaches the shore. It would be good, showing a continuous cover of plants on rocks, to give close-ups of their interesting details, for example, air bubbles on certain fuchs.
On most rocky shores one can find a huge number of sea ducks "encrusting" the rocks, as well as molluscs, such as limpet (Patella spp) and littorina (Littorina spp). They can be photographed in a group, as well as alone close-up. For photographing organisms with a shell, natural light is best, as it emphasizes the striations and overall relief of the shell. To be able to take advantage of solar lighting, you need to select objects located in open places. If necessary, you can set up a tripod. Since some clams prefer shady areas, a flash may be necessary. The shaded sides of boulders or rock ledges often provide shelter for overgrown animals such as sponges.
The rocky shores are also rich in certain types of crabs. In temperate regions, they are quite small, rarely found, and you need to look for them in rock crevices or under boulders and large algae. In the tropics, the situation is completely different. In Kenya, as soon as night falls, the coral rocks are covered with many striped crabs; in the growing darkness, the rustle of the feet of crabs moving through the rocks is clearly audible.
During the day, thousands of these crabs can be seen under the ledges of the cliffs. The author took several photographs using a zoom lens and flash, and even a number of close-ups a few centimeters away using a 55mm lens.