Limpets are slow. They sit in one spot for hours, then slide gently away to find a bit of algae to munch on. Their food sits and waits for them; they have no need to hurry.
But occasionally, one gets the urge to explore. I watched one rushing around and around on a hermit's shell.
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| Front end lifted, antennae flapping; no time to waste! |
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| Taking a good look around. Wondering whether to move to the next shell. Nah. |
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| Pair of observers on the wall: "Where's the fire? These youngsters nowadays!" |
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| Blurry photo, but shows the foot-waving, shell-lifting urgency of Limpy's quest. |
He stayed with the hermit for several hours, working his way from the tip of the shell to the lip, checking out the surroundings as the hermit wandered about, dashing (slow-mo dash) back to the tip, then the far side, then back to look over at the hermit's head ...
In the morning, he had moved on. The hermit's shell was clean and bare.
so it was a Moveable Feast, Vancouver edition
ReplyDelete:) What we used to call a Progressive Dinner?
DeleteI've never seen one except at low tide clinging to a rock. The antennae are so delicate. - Margy
ReplyDeleteWhen the tide goes out, they clamp themselves down to the rocks and wait it out.
Delete