Volcanoes, roses and a prince.

On little Santa Maria beach,Paros, if you swim at the depth of 4-5 meters and deeper, on the sandy parts you may notice a lot of small hills with a hole in the top. These “volcanoes” are nests of marine animals. Bivalves or worms are the most possible inhabitants of the volcanoes but until now I didn’t have the chance to check it. When the volcano is dirty,it has the same behavior with all the volcanoes. It explodes and you can notice small stones throwing away from the hole.
Of course, and as in every lonely planet, except from the volcanoes you can also see roses. The roses of the area are alive and have a worm inside them. They are spiral tube worms but for we will talk more about them in future posts. So the volcano is dirty and the rose alone? Of course not! Our planet has its capricious prince, the little weever. It is capricious because if you annoy him it will give you his poison. (stop the pain by putting the injured area in hot water 44C to 49C). It spends its day by laying over the volcano and negotiating the terms of volcano cleanliness with the worm, trying to help the rose with the existential thoughts. That's how our friends spend their day on the sandy beach.

When the roses ideas make our hero tired, he prefers to bury himself instead of going away.

The volcano is such a good place for scanning around and resting.

The hard thing is to convince the worm to let you clean the volcano.

Casting: The little prince : Trachinus draco
The rose : Sabella spallazanii ???
The volcanoes : species from phylums Annelida or Mollusca.

Check the history and the wreck-story of the original inspired author at wikipedia

Double fanworm

Bispira volutacornis is one of the beautiful fanworms of Aegean Sea. Fanworms are worms that prefer living in membranous tubes that creates over steady items even buried in mud or between rocks. The only part of these animals which is visibly is the tube and the double feather-crown that filters water for feeding and breathing. I usually find it on clear shallow waters like solitarily beaches. Its eyes alert the animal if the danger approaches it and rapidly hides its double crown inside the tube. When it is hidden the entrance of the tube closes and makes a peculiar 8. Its crown colour variation is from white (and pinkie white) to brown or reddish brown and depends on the sex and the sexually mature of the animal. B.volutacornis usually prefers solitarily living but sometimes you can meet a couple of them (photo) or more.

Coral worm castle

This little perch has a very impressive castle, made of a rich yellow sponge Aplysina aerophoba and a very fragile colony of coral worms Salmacina dysteri. The coral worms are only tiny but the colonies can reach up to 15 cm in sheltered areas, without nets or clumsy fin strokes.
Don't disturb the dreams and the castles, glide smoothly!
The photos where taken in Pilion, 5m.

A lower-higher level of the food chain!!!

The fire worm is really a charismatic marine species! People may admire a lot of animals like the powerful sharks and marlins and condemn other animals like the worms because they seem to be so weak. Fire worms are not weak; one of the first things that I learnt when I started fishing with hooks at my childhood is not to leave the bait move for a long time. If you do so, fireworks will get it and you don't want to have any contact with those worms. I was lucky enough and this animal never harmed me (this is really strange!!!) but as it is known it has thousands of hard bristles that if they touch your skin you will feel a burning sensation for many days. That's why no marine animals ever eat a fire worm. On the other hand fire worms eat almost everything, even sea anemones. They are also the most successful scavengers in a lot of areas. For scavenging it is believed that they use the organ they have on their head. It is believed that it's something that helps for good smell. (the one that looks like a brain at the first photo). You can find hundreds of them over a dead fish body, just ten minutes after you throw it in the sea. At the second photo you can see a lesson in knots!!!!

i'm off the tube!!!!

-During the day it leaves under rocks, active at night.
-photo taken at Paros island (mikri Santa) at august 08.