Sea urchin and sea bluebells

Oysterleaf and sea urchin on a rocky coast in Iceland
Oysterleaf and sea urchin.

Beaches are always interesting, especially if you are into natural sciences. Iceland is no exception. Today I want to demonstrate a combination of a sea urchin shell with a beautiful nordic plant called sea bluebells or oysterleaf that commonly grows on rocky coasts.

I have mentioned sea urchins several times before because their colorful spines often end up being sand grains. I found one fellow with lots of its spines still attached but I will leave it for another day.

This sea urchin is one of so-called green sea urchins because most of its spines are green. Its latin name is Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. It is common in cold arctic oceans. The plant next to it is Mertensia maritima. It grows even in Svalbard and Greenland and seems to feel quite comfortable in Iceland.

4 comments to Sea urchin and sea bluebells

  • Silver Fox

    Stunning photo!

  • Howard

    Nice! We have Mertensia (different species) here in Alberta. I always think of Iceland as having nothing but black beaches. Do you see beaches there with enough biogenic grains to make white sand?

  • dimf

    amazing photo these two together!

  • Beaches in Iceland are black or dark indeed. In one place I saw a larger patch of clam shells but most of the beach was composed of small rounded basalt pebbles. But I only saw a very small number of beaches. Time is limited as always and there are so much interesting to see in Iceland. I’d like to go back one day.

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