Director's Blog
Tuesday 13th April 2010
For those of you who don't know...most of my research has centred in and on the fabulous Limpet! I just love 'em. They have an amazing ability to "home" to one location on a rock face where their shell perfectly matches the contours of the rock surface..thus minimising water loss when the tide is out...and we STILL don't fully understand how they do it. Scientists have moved them, and they find their way back...washed the rock face with detergent? nope that didn't work...what about blasting the rock face with hot acid? Nah...they still managed it. Scientists even tried taking the surface of the rock away completely with chisels...but to no avail! They've got us stumped!
As if this wasn't enough to persuade us that limpets are of a higher intelligence they also have a very cool internal body clock which tells them exactly when the tide will be coming in or going out. This then allows them to synchronise their foraging movements with optimal environmental conditions thus minimising water loss and the chance of being eaten by a passing crab.
So the next time you happen to be visiting the local beach, spare a thought for the poor, mis-understood limpet...but don't discuss them too loudly...as they will undoubtedly be listening!
Long live The Limpet! Ruler of the waves.
Let's change the subject for a minute...
The reason I'm suddenly talking about limpets is that I've recently been posting a few key facts about these little beasties on twitter...and the response I've had from my followers has been quite surprising with them wanting more info...and also asking for the full version of "Clamp". So here it is.
If you feel that you'd like to join the ever growing community of "tweeters" and want to follow me then keep an eye out for @Limpet2.
The "Merry Dancers" appeared over Shetland on Sunday night...what a magical sight!
