Blooming meadows

A couple of days ago, I posted a photo of a tiny beastie I'd just discovered in my aquarium.

Here it is again. A couple or three millimetres long.

Yesterday, I took dozens of photos of the general area, mostly on two oyster shells and the sand around them. I found several of the same animals.

There are two here. The colour is lighter, but the characteristic stripes are the same. And the size. I think they're baby snails, born in the tank. The little green things may be copepods, taking a break from their constant racing about.

Zooming in close like that, ignoring the parade of hermits and crabs and focusing instead on the background, I noticed how alive this "bare" surface really is.

Fertile fields. Algaes and diatoms, protozoa, and who knows what else. Pinks and purples and greens and blue-blacks. Good grazing for a tiny snail.

The hermit's shell is populated, too. Look at the edge, where the light shows up the tiny pink and green growing things.

It's turtles flowers all the way down.