While walking on the beach a few days ago after the storms, I spotted these strange purple egg like shapes attached to a rather sandy sea sponge. I have no idea what they are, can anyone help me identify them?
Hi again, here is an update as to what these eggs are.
I emailed a friend of mine, Jeannie, last night about these strange eggs. Jeannie is a marine biologist and I thought she would know what they are.
Here is her reply that just came in this morning.
"These are the eggs of the Cart-rut Snail (Dicathais orbita). These ones have already hatched (see the holes in the top of each egg capsule). The purple colour is an antibiotic substance that the mother snail injects into each capsule to keep her babies healthy. This substance is now being investigated by Woolongong University to see if it has applications as a future antibiotic for human use. Seeing these eggs means that spring has come to the ocean, there will be lots more of these egg cases wash up on the beach over the coming months."
Julia asked if jelly fish lay eggs and yes they do but I haven't seen anything like this. Fish eggs too are mainly round and these jelly like shapes are flat on one side.
Merely speculation, but after reading up on the sex life of a sponge I am wondering if these are eggs that are inside the actual sponge and it has been split in the rough sea. Maybe these are the eggs that were inside the female sponge. It would take too long to write what I have learnt about them here, but if you are interested, look it up for yourselves and see what you think.
"These are the eggs of the Cart-rut Snail (Dicathais orbita). These ones have already hatched (see the holes in the top of each egg capsule). The purple colour is an antibiotic substance that the mother snail injects into each capsule to keep her babies healthy. This substance is now being investigated by Woolongong University to see if it has applications as a future antibiotic for human use. Seeing these eggs means that spring has come to the ocean, there will be lots more of these egg cases wash up on the beach over the coming months."
But makes a great image...
Do jelly fish have eggs?
Julia asked if jelly fish lay eggs and yes they do but I haven't seen anything like this. Fish eggs too are mainly round and these jelly like shapes are flat on one side.
Merely speculation, but after reading up on the sex life of a sponge I am wondering if these are eggs that are inside the actual sponge and it has been split in the rough sea. Maybe these are the eggs that were inside the female sponge. It would take too long to write what I have learnt about them here, but if you are interested, look it up for yourselves and see what you think.
I have a couple of people who I can ask
Here is her reply that just came in this morning.
"These are the eggs of the Cart-rut Snail (Dicathais orbita). These ones have already hatched (see the holes in the top of each egg capsule). The purple colour is an antibiotic substance that the mother snail injects into each capsule to keep her babies healthy. This substance is now being investigated by Woolongong University to see if it has applications as a future antibiotic for human use. Seeing these eggs means that spring has come to the ocean, there will be lots more of these egg cases wash up on the beach over the coming months."
I also Googled it again and here is what I found.
https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/molluscs/cart-rut-shell/
I am sure we have all seen this particular shell on the beach at some time or other and now we all know about the creature that lives inside it.
I love walking round the rock pools with Jeannie, she is amazing at finding such interesting creatures.