Maerl by durleybeachbum
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Description
This 2.cm object is a piece of a coral-like seaweed and is made of a hard shell-like substance. Like coral it is fragile and very slow growing. It creates a very rare habitat known as ‘maerl beds’ that can be up to 8,000 years old, but these can be easily destroyed, making them, like ancient woodland, an irreplacable resource once removed.
You can read much more about it on the Cornwall Wildlife Trust website, where there is an ongoing discussion about proposed dredging of the channel which will radically affect this species and the shelter it provides for infant fish stocks.
Another angle of this scrap Here
Comments (15)
Krittermom
I have often wondered why humans, after destroying so much of our earth, have never learned to stop. It seems like we always find an excuse to justify the utter destruction of another piece of our planet. This is a elegant piece of beauty. Wonderful capture.
anahata.c
another of your museum-like captures (all surrounded by total black), with strong light and very vivid yellows, ambers, and shapes. It's such a fascinating thing---both how it's composed, and how it looks. It looks like a snack food, lol, or like a loaf of bread that got sick of its pan and broke out in a fit. Just a fascinating photo, with all kinds of detail and texture. You show us things we just don't see here; and I learn from them every time. A strange and beautiful shot, and caught like a display in a museum.
wysiwig
I'm beginning to think Mark and I were separated at birth. My first thought seeing this was "Cheetos", a popular snack food over here. Then I thought it must be some sort of fungus. Imagine my surprise. This is a fascinating artifact and in zoom mode one can see the color variations and textures. Plus its really neat.
helanker
Very lovely and a shame to destroy where they grow. No doubt. I have a very large coral, my grandfather brought home from where-ever, years before he married my grandmother. Dont know where he found it. But he found alot of shells and such on the beaches. He was captain on a big ship.
clbsmiley
our poor world. so mistreated
photosynthesis
Never heard of these & never would have guessed that it was seaweed. Fascinating shape & texture that I would have guessed was soft & spongy if you hadn't informed us otherwise...
Hendesse
A really interesting piece. Superb shot!
jendellas
Why does everything has to be destroyed? Interesting artefact. xx
Faemike55
my first thought after viewing the image and not reading your narrative, that this was a growth taken from some person, ie. a gall stone or something like that.
the narrative proved even more fascinating. Thanks for sharing
Katraz
Enlarge this to a couple of feet and you could sell it as a garden sculpture.
MrsRatbag
It looks like an amorphous bone fragment, which I guess it really is...wonderful shot!
Star4mation
Superb shot Andrea :)
Juliette.Gribnau
fascinating
kgb224
Superb capture Andrea. God bless.
Glendaw
Wonderful photo of this unique and priceless piece coral, and interesting information.
Thanks for sharing !