Wow! What a fun filled day we had today. Xander's daddy Mo is a fisherman and along with his friend John, they brought an amazing array of sea life for us to see. They brought a touch tank into the hall, added loads of sea water and then the sea life they had found around Ardglass. We got to see eels, brown crabs, velvet crabs, spider crabs, starfish, sun starfish, shrimps, prawns, octopus, sea urchins, sea snails, lobsters and catsharks!
We carefully listened to the different names, what they liked to eat, how they had got their names and then the best part - we carefully touched or held them. They velvet crabs are very soft and feel like the velvet material, we counted the octopuses legs, looked closely at the suckers on their legs - saw how they are so strong when they attach themselves to the sides of the tank or to a crab. They release ink to confuse other fish so that they can get away quickly. They liked to trick us as well by squirting water at us. The catsharks were so strong and splashed their tails and gave us a little shower as well. We looked at the claws on the crabs, compared the baby lobsters who was about 3 years old to the large lobster who has been swimming around in the sea for 50 years.
We discovered that the shark eggs attach themselves to seaweed and that they often wash up on the beach without the egg inside and these are called mermaid purses. So next time you are out for a walk on the beach look out for all the different sea creatures.
It was an amazing day and with loads of fun memories - thank you so much Mo, John and Xander.
