Rockpooling in Torbay

[shei111]

Hello chooonz welcome to WAB site. shei.

[Davy Crockett]

Hi chooonz, what’s this stand for . Can’t beat fiddling about in rock pools we’ve all done it I’m sure, so don't feel lonely
hope you find what your looking for.
Cheers Crockett

[Marineboy]

Hi chooonz, like many others here, this is close to my heart too. I like few things more than getting onto the sea shore. Although also a diver, sometimes you can't beat a good rockpooling session. I will be at the Newton Abbot boat jumble late September, (21st I think), so its not that far away. Maybe I will get down to Brixham for a dive before that though. Have you seen the crab Goneplax rhomboides? Brixham is a real hot spot for these exotic looking long clawed, long eye-stalked pink crabs. Are you planning a rockpooling expedition around the spring tides?
Beachcombing over the weekend turned up 7 of our crab species washed up. I'm older than you but I bet I am the bigger kid when it comes to the sea shore!

[Marineboy]

Meadfoot Beach
Yesterday I took advantage of the low water spring tide to have a look at Meadfoot Beach. Nestled in Torbay, Torquay, broadly speaking it's an arc of sand and pebbles, contained within rocky outcrops north and south, with a prominent rocky area in the middle, which, from Google Earth and other aerial sites I had already decided on exploring. I arrived before low water and walked a couple of tide lines as the tide receded. Lots of seaweed washed up but surprisingly little marine life, except a dead Thornback ray minus its wings - a telling tale from a fisherman of the one that didn't get away.
Initial thoughts of "nothing here" as I scoured the tide line were soon unfounded when I turned over my first stones.

Crabs - edible crabs were plentiful up to about 5 inches across the shell, the bright red-eyed aggressive velvet swimming crabs, lots in the smaller sizes up to 3in, and small hermit crabs. Curiously though I didn't see any common shore crabs.
There are numerous small Pilumnus hirtellus, small, with muddy hairy appearance. Broad clawed porcelain crabs too are everywhere under the rocks. These wonderfully camouflaged little crabs are filter-feeding crabs, as are the squat lobsters Galathea squamifera. Both will take solid food, but surprisingly, they spend most of their time sifting the water.
These squat lobsters, Galathea squamifera galore! All sizes of these, small, numerous, up to about 3cm, and aggressive.
There were the usual common prawns, but some were indeed big. Another prawn which was a first to me, was a bright crimson prawn 1cm long. Not seen that one before.

Sea anemones - there were the usual red beadlet anemones, but also the strawberry variety. Large snakelocks anemones too were left high and dry, some stretched to extreme into pools of water below.

Amongst the molluscs, there were the usual winkles, and limpets. Also found the painted topshell, small blue rayed limpets and slipper limpets. Guess what - the slipper limpets are filter feeders too. Quite a different life style to the common limpets which graze on algae. The species I found here is quite different to the species I find locally. These ones were more like the Mediterranean species, which although supposedly restricted to the Med, I guess is not impossible with our waters warming up.

Fish - rocklings, butterfish, blennies and pipefish. Some rockpools contained large shoals of young sandeels, and in others gobies and young mullet. The sandeels proved to be easy picking for the gulls, and I found many dead where pools had drained.

There were sea urchins, brittle stars, common starfish and a couple of white sea cucumbers, 7 and 10 cms long.

Also found the sea lemon sea slug, Archidoris pseudoargus.

The tide dropped well below average low tide level and exposed large areas of kelp beds, their fronds looking like fresh buffed brown leather. Their stems standing upright on the exposed rocks, but bending with the weight of their heavy fronds. And too dense really for attempting to turn stones over. The holdfasts themselves hosting to a myriad of life.
Every rock overturned offered something of interest. (All rocks were replaced their original way up - as should always be done!). I spent over 3 hours over low tide and was glad that I had extra time to explore as the tide seemed to uncover and then reclaim the beach very quickly. The rocky bit I was on was prominent in the middle of the beach but not extensive. Most of the rocks I looked under were large and heavy, and again it might be worth going back to explore the rocks at the northern end of the beach, below the pay and display carpark.
Incidently, there is some limited free parking along Meadfoot Road.

As rocky beaches go, its a good one, and is a Marine Conservation recommended beach. Lots of marine life. Toilets, tearoom up the hill, and ice cream van not far away. Worth another visit? Yes. Would I class it as my favourite British rockpooling beach? No . . . . . . I feel another post coming on!
Thankyou chooonz.