Project: One photo a day (but not necessarily every day)

[open roader]

Can you smell the (strawberry) clover flowers?

[htwoopup]

[echappist]

@jon, is that a mushroom or something ickier?

[j44ke]

Looks like a snail + slipper limpets.

[claritycycler]

Helped my son with a yurt build on his property in Felton(near Santa Cruz) for a few days

[htwoopup]

@jon, is that a mushroom or something ickier?

Looks like a snail + slipper limpets.

I found this while walking the dog along the ocean in Fire Island NY (a barrier beach off the South Shore of Long Island NY) this morning.

I take it as a sign that the natural world is just as messed up as the human world at the moment. It is messed up by the human world but the snail against snail exhibited here in extremis is so beyond anything I have ever seen or heard of.

I have been around the Atlantic Ocean since close to the Bronze Age (as my best friend since 3rd grade calls it).

I have never seen anything like this. So some of what I am going to explain is factual, some I have surmised and some is scientific wild ass guess.

There are often barnacles or snail shells attached to bigger/ older specimens of other animals. But this is unique in a number of ways.

It appears to be a large tulip snail which are normally only as far north as maybe North Carolina or Virginia. I know we have had some big storms, but the Gulf Stream is still about 67 miles offshore (it is normally 100-106 off at this time of year).

The weird part is that it seems to have not just one but 3 smaller Tun snails that have attacked it. They expel acid which bores through a shell and then eats what's inside. That is bizarre for even one other snail as it is usually a different animal altogether and it is not one but three attackers.

Then, all 3 of those have then been attacked and killed in place by 3 other even more young Tuns. Again, very unique. All of the 7 snails/ shells are rarely or never seen this far north to my knowledge.

What isn't in the picture is that on the other side, the big Tulip was eating two (which is odd at one time, it is normally only one at a time) Baby's Ears. Baby's Ears also are rarely, if ever, seen this far north.

So, a lot of snails killing each other. It is like a mass slaughter done by a mob. And all found in waters far hotter and less livable than normal.

Sorta like what humanity seems to be going through at the moment.

On the other hand, I have been looking at buying someone else's Calfee and their mark is a Nautilus shell so maybe all of the above is nonsense and this was just a sign to buy another bike that I don't have room for in the apartment.

[j44ke]

I think the "adherents" are slipper limpets or slipper snails, though they are not true snails but more closely related to cowries. They develop an asymmetric whorl as the shell grows, but they are open bottomed with a large foot like a limpet and the animal itself fits into a small shelf rather than a spiral cavity like a true snail. Once the animal is gone, the shelf is revealed and an upturned shell looks a bit like a slipper. Thus the name. That overlayed assembly of individuals is what they do in order to eat and reproduce simultaneously. Thus their Latin name is actual not based only on appearances. They can also change their sex from male to female. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepidula_fornicata

I grew up with these in Virginia where my sister and her friends would put the shells on their finger tips and pretend they were false fingernails when we went to the beach.

But your points are well taken on the symbolic aspects of the image! Crepidula are now in Europe where they are categorized as invasive, and the concepts of foreign-ness and invasive-ness are profound points of contention currently.

[SlowPokePete]

October 13, 2023 by SPP™ SlowPokePete, on Flickr

SPP

[rwsaunders]

I met 110,261 new friends yesterday.

[rwsaunders]

Designated “tag” area complete with empty spray paint cans and discarded liquor bottles.

[72gmc]

What's the reason a tagger would have so much gas in Pittsburgh? Primanti sandwiches? Pierogies?

[rwsaunders]

What's the reason a tagger would have so much gas in Pittsburgh? Primanti sandwiches? Pierogies?

I have to give the credit to Ann Arbor, Michigan…rumor has it that Harbaugh frequents the alley.

[bcm119]

You'd think taggers would come up with something more controversial. Everyone loves farts.

[Dave Thompson]

Very early sunrise, Frankfurt Germany.

[j44ke]

Very early sunrise, Frankfurt Germany.

Was a frost warning in Germany last night and here in Paris there is warm 60’s and light rain. Weather is weather I guess.

[rwsaunders]

[bcm119]

Leaving SF on the ferry

[bigbill]

Saturday in Star Valley, AZ. My wife with her two horses. Syndicate is the white face Quarterhorse and the sleeping horse is Chancey. Syndicate is a kill lot special from several years ago, and my wife has had Chancey since she was a foal, twenty one years ago. We also have Chancey's sister, Scully, who is twenty five and is retired, living her best life. Fun fact, Chancey's father, Chase, was half appaloosa and Chancey's real name is Last Chance because if she didn't have appaloosa marking, Chase was going to be gelded. He was. Chase is still alive at twenty nine, and retired to pasture.

[vertical_doug]

Even if your wife is wearing half-chaps over paddock boots, I expect you to shine those paddock boots. Don't let your standards slip now.

[bigbill]

She was wearing her fancy boots which were dusty in that photo. As a good groom, I have a damp towel that I use to wipe her boots after she is on the horse. The event was a Working Equitation, which starts with dressage, followed by ease of handling (horse obstacle course), and a speed round (ease of handling for time). She brought two horses and competed in two different classes using the same tack, so I was more of a NASCAR pit crew than an observer. I had 12K steps on my watch that day.