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Wild Animals
Saltwater Molluscs
It is in the sea environment that molluscs have lived the longest and because of this molluscs more fully express their diversity in form, colour and behaviour. Some are strange-looking and many are truly beautiful in their appearance. Our coastal waters are home to over 100 colourful and exotic-looking true sea slugs. In our A-Z we have described the Sea Lemon Sea Slug and the Sea Hare. Single shelled saltwater molluscs like sea snails, whelks, limpits and periwincles are found all over our coastline. The discarded shells of our bivalve molluscs litter our beaches. Children delight in finding them and can usually identify cockles, mussels, and razorshells at least. In rock pools, Coat-of-mail Chitons can often be found. These small creatures look like underwater woodlice at first glance. In the deeper areas of the sea larger bivalves such as scallops and oysters are found along with some extraordinary looking molluscs such as squid, octopus and cuttlefish which are all mentioned in the sea creature category.
Coat-of-mail Chiton
The Coat-of-mail Chiton is a mollusc that has a soft brown body enclosed in a small oval-shaped shell and can be found on the west and south-west coasts of England. It
Cockle (Common)
The Common Cockle is also known as the Edible Cockle. It is a ‘bivalve’ mollusc which means it has a soft body enclosed in two hinged shells, just like the Common Oy
Cuttlefish (Common)
The Common Cuttlefish is not a fish like its name suggests, but a ‘cephalopod’ . A cephalopod is a fast-swimming mollusc that has suckered tentacles attached to its
Mussel (Common)
The Common Mussel is a ‘bivalve’ mollusc which means that it has a soft body enclosed in two hinged shell, like the Grooved Razor Shell and the Common Oyster. It can
Octopus (Lesser)
The Lesser Octopus is also known as the ‘curled octopus’ because it curls up its tentacles when it rests. It is a ‘cephalopod’ which is a fast swimming mollusc t
Oyster (Common)
The Common Oyster is also known as the Native Oyster and the Edible Oyster. It can be found in shallow waters on solid mud, muddy sand, gravel and rocks all around our
Razor Shell (Grooved)
The Grooved Razor Shell is also known as the Common Razor Shell. It is a ‘bivalve’ mollusc which means it has a soft body enclosed in two hinged shells, like the Co
Scallop (King)
The King Scallop is also known as the Great Scallop. It is a large ‘bivalve’ mollusc which means it has a soft body enclosed in two hinged shells, like the Grooved R
Sea Hare
The Sea Hare is a small sea creature that is often referred to as a ‘sea slug’. It can be found around many coasts of England where there is shallow water and someti
Sea Slug (Sea Lemon)
The Sea Lemon Sea Slug is a large oval-shaped sea slug that is quite flat-looking. It has its name the ‘Sea Lemon Sea Slug' because of its lemon yellow colouring.
Squid (Common)
The Common Squid is also known as the European Common Squid and it is a ‘cephalopod’. A cephalopod is a fast-swimming mollusc that has suckered tentacles attached t
Violet Sea Snail
The Violet Sea Snail is a small ‘pelagic’ snail which means that it lives in the open sea away from the seabed and away from shores. However, sometimes after strong
Whelk (Common)
The Common Whelk is a quite a large marine snail with a spiral shell. It can be found all around the coast of England in both shallow and deep waters on sandy and mudd
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