Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens......
Nah, not really. Slime, algae and nasty little carnivores!
More pictures of the critters that inhabit the rockpools along my part of the Aussie coast.
Wandering anemone: These guys float around on the winds and currents. Same family as regular sea anemones, they have a disc of tentacles underneath for moving around and feeding or attaching themselves to weed or rocks. The individual cells are jelly like.
I love finding a pool with a second, unknown source of light - maybe from a crack in the rocks or underwater tunnel joining it to another pool.
Some of my beloved slimes. The black one is actually blue-green algae. I think that's a little sponge in the middle and the red is coraline algae.
These critters are called Sea Hares because of the long antennae like a hare's ears. They are pretty well hidden most of the year but come out to bask in the shallows during breeding season. Their eggs look like strands of spaghetti.
Sometimes it's just fun to photograph the sun on the rocks.
This was a two -fer. Rock pool with a hidden crack of light plus a little fish staring at the camera.
Lomis Hirta. Hairy stone crab, except it's not really a crab, having only three pairs of legs. Very geometrical, like a wooden puzzle. Not very big and pretty hard to find.
False limpets and their egg cases. They differ from true limpets in that they are air breathing, lacking the gill structure that enables a true limpet to breath in water. Instead, the false limpets batten down with a shell-full of air when the tide rises.
Little crab immediately after moulting. As I walked past a small pool, I saw movement in the bottom and this little pink crab was struggling out of his old shell. They are very vulnerable at this stage, so I hope he survived.
Bubble seaweed on a seagrass bed; it shines gold when the sun hits it. Only grows at certain times of the year.
I just thought these colours were really cool.Baby mussels growing on a mat of Ulva- sea lettuce. The sea lettuce is edible and is great in miso soup! The mussels are too small to bother picking.
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Underwater pictures can be so much fun. It's been a while since I had access to a camera that could do that.
Those are great pictures, thanks for sharing and telling us what everything is. 
Never expected them to last forever - they really take a beating. At the moment, I'm using a Ricoh WG-6 and am very pleased with it. It has an insane 1cm macro mode with a little light ring!
I'm going off the idea of using a selfie stick for underwater shots. You need to use 10 second self timer and this tends to steam up the inside of the camera, I guess because of heat from the mechanism. I don't mind getting into the pools in summer but no way in winter! 
Along the shore in New England and then lived along the Pacific for many years, I loved wading in the tide pools in summer. There's so much to see.
My parents visited Australia, my mother twice, but I've never been. I'm in New York and I envy you the weather now in your part of our world... 
We don't get snow, or even many frosts, being so close to the sea, but believe me, the wind in winter can blow the hair off your head!
I wonder how the ski centers are doing, can see the lights at night from the one on the nearest mountain from my window, but I was never into outdoor winter sports. We do get wind warnings, though, so I can identify with that. It looks like you're in a lovely area, close to the coast, and I always enjoy your photos.
I really hate going down to the beach with my dog on a sunny day, having to spend hours wading in crystal clear pools. 
Not.
Wish I could have visited at some point, but that didn’t happen. Your pictures were like a virtual visit.
Which is logical, because that's how they gather prey, but have never heard of anyone being stung, so you're a first.
I handle them all the time; I should be more careful.
I love spending time there; it's better than a theme park.
Thank you for the education! 
I don't know what's on many of the photos til I get them on the computer. Anything new or unusual I always look up which takes me down magical diversions.
It’s only by accident that I saw your post on the front page, and am so glad I did. 
And yet I believe I've only seen a tiny fraction of what is down there. Later this month and next month we are due some exceptionally low daytime tides and I can get out to the really interesting spots....
