You may not know Benny the Tompot Blenny, but Paul Naylor does – very well. Paul is a top underwater photographer, who combines astonishing images and film sequences with a marine biologist's deep knowledge of his subject.
He returned to Coastwise to give members further benefit of his work, and, knowing he was talking to enthusiasts, focussed on several specific types of behaviour.
Paul covered dedicated parenting by males, the problems that crabs can have with their armour, strange mollusc behaviour, hermit crabs and their versatility, and his long-running encounters with tompot blennies. There were so many killer facts and interesting anecdotes that its difficult to pick out a few, but we learned (and saw) that a cuttlefish can change its body colour quickly enough to intrigue and attract small fish closer before "disappearing into the background" by disguise, and catching one with a lightning tentacle strike.
Sea slugs eat snakelocks anenomes, but manage to retain and store the stinging nematocysts in their spiky skin, where they deter predators. Hermit crabs show interesting symbiotic behaviours; as well as supporting anenomes which benefit from dropped food and offer some shared defence with their nematocysts, they also often act as home to ragworms, which again are able to benefit from the crab's feeding. However, they also clear out the waste from the closed back of the shell which is what often forces the crab to seek a new shell.
Finally, Paul's wife has written a children's book about Benny the Blenny, and we saw him tempted out from his underwater crevice to take an approving swim around and over the book. Hope the publishers can do a waterproof version…..
[Images courtesy of Paul Naylor]