#kelp-forest-invertebrates

3 articles

Painted Topshell (Calliostoma zizyphinum): The Jewel Snail of Kelp Rock

The painted topshell is a glossy, conical grazer of Europe's kelp-bed reefs. How to identify Calliostoma zizyphinum, where it lives and how it feeds.

Dr. Theo Nakamura · September 26, 2026

An underwater view of a kelp-bed boulder encrusted with a chalky colony of scaled worm snails, their ridged calcareous tubes layered across the rock beneath drifting kelp fronds.

Encyclopedia8 min read

Scaled Worm Snail: The Snail That Builds Reefs in the Kelp Bed

The scaled worm snail (Thylacodes squamigerus) glues its shell to rock, spins a mucus net for food, and grows into living reefs on kelp-bed boulders.

Dr. Theo Nakamura · September 26, 2026

Encyclopedia6 min read

Umbrella Crab: Kelp's Shape-Shifting Hermit of the Canopy

The umbrella crab hides its legs beneath a flared, kelp-coloured carapace, drifting undetected across the holdfasts and rocky floors of Pacific kelp forests.

Dr. Mara Ellison · September 24, 2026

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