Araçá Bay

Summit of São Sebastião

View of São Sebastião channel and Araçá bay.

Black mangrove

Red mangrove

Scale insects associated with the white mangrove

Pistol shrimp or alpheid shrimp

Small alpheid shrimp usually found under stones.

Barnacles

Barnacles are an entirely marine group of crustaceans with a sessile way of life, attached permanently to a hard substrate, such as rocks, shells, corals, roots etc.

Hermit crab

Hermit crab.

Tubiculous polychaete

Diopatra tube on intertidal flat.

Balanoglossus gigas

Acorn worm (enteropneust) - marine burrowing wormlike invertebrate.

Sponge

Sea pansy

The sea pansy is a collection of polyps having different forms and functions, being common in sand flats in protected areas.

Sea slug

Nudibranch (sea slug)

Nudibranch (sea slug)

The gastropod Lamellaria mopsicolor uses the ascidians of the family Didemnidae as food and as a place to incubate their eggs. They always mimic the color of the ascidian host.

Entoprocta

The Entoprocta (= Kamptozoa) comprise a phylum of solitary and colonial sessile animals, one of the least-known groups of the Animal kingdom and whose phylogenetic position is unclear and controversial. About 180 species have been described worldwide. Small, transparent and of cryptic habits, the Entoprocta are usually inconspicuous, although they are relatively common on hard substrates such as rocks, pebbles, corals, shells, and algae. They live as commensals of many species of invertebrates such as sponges, polychaetes, and sipunculans, often being found inside the tubes and galleries of their hosts. Closely resembling some bryozoans and hydrozoans in the general appearance and habit, they consist mainly of a distal region, called calyx, which contains a crown of ciliated tentacles, and a stem or stalk, which sustain the calyx and attaches it to the substrate through a dilated structure, characteristic of solitary species, or by stolons in colonial species.

microcrustacean in lateral view

The tanaid Kalliapseudes is abundant in the bay of Araçá and is commonly found in estuaries and sandy-muddy tidal flats of the South and Southeast regions of Brazil. It builds galleries in the substrate and feeds on particulate matter brought by water flow.

Polychaete

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Poliqueta silídeo

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Poliqueta silídeo

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Crested caracara

The crested caracara is a bird of prey with a varied diet including crabs and other invertebrates.

Red mangrove

Fiddler crab

Fiddler crab.

Sand dollar

The sand dollar Encope emarginata is found on soft sediments in the intertidal and subtidal zones

Nudibranch (sea slug)

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Fire worm

The fire-worms are benthic animals that live under rocks and among other marine organisms; they have white, numerous, and large bristles that may cause skin irritation.

Bryozoan

Zoobotryum is common on the northern coast of São Paulo, especially in sheltered port areas. Their colonies are branched and whitish and resemble algae. It has been considered an invasive species in many parts of the world.

Entoprocta

The Entoprocta (= Kamptozoa) comprise a phylum of solitary and colonial sessile animals, one of the least-known groups of the Animal kingdom and whose phylogenetic position is unclear and controversial. About 180 species have been described worldwide. Small, transparent and of cryptic habits, the Entoprocta are usually inconspicuous, although they are relatively common on hard substrates such as rocks, pebbles, corals, shells, and algae. They live as commensals of many species of invertebrates such as sponges, polychaetes, and sipunculans, often being found inside the tubes and galleries of their hosts. Closely resembling some bryozoans and hydrozoans in the general appearance and habit, they consist mainly of a distal region, called calyx, which contains a crown of ciliated tentacles, and a stem or stalk, which sustain the calyx and attaches it to the substrate through a dilated structure, characteristic of solitary species, or by stolons in colonial species.

Snail

The tiny snail Olivella minuta can form dense populations in sandy or sandy-muddy sediments. As it moves around during low tides this snail leaves a grooved trail behind.

Kinorhynch

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Egret bird

Barnacles

Barnacles are an entirely marine group of crustaceans with a sessile way of life, attached permanently to a hard substrate, such as rocks, shells, corals, roots etc.

Barnacles

Barnacles are an entirely marine group of crustaceans with a sessile way of life, attached permanently to a hard substrate, such as rocks, shells, corals, roots etc.

Hydroid

Gonotheca, 60x.

Hydroid

Dynamena crisioides is one of the species restricted to intertidal habitats along tropical and subtropical coasts.

Sponge

Snail

Snail

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Snail

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Snail

Black Skimmer

The black skimmer flies very close to the water, with the lower beak cutting the water surface.

Brittle star

Tubiculous polychaete

Sabellid polychaete.

Entoprocta

The Entoprocta (= Kamptozoa) comprise a phylum of solitary and colonial sessile animals, one of the least-known groups of the Animal kingdom and whose phylogenetic position is unclear and controversial. About 180 species have been described worldwide. Small, transparent and of cryptic habits, the Entoprocta are usually inconspicuous, although they are relatively common on hard substrates such as rocks, pebbles, corals, shells, and algae. They live as commensals of many species of invertebrates such as sponges, polychaetes, and sipunculans, often being found inside the tubes and galleries of their hosts. Closely resembling some bryozoans and hydrozoans in the general appearance and habit, they consist mainly of a distal region, called calyx, which contains a crown of ciliated tentacles, and a stem or stalk, which sustain the calyx and attaches it to the substrate through a dilated structure, characteristic of solitary species, or by stolons in colonial species.

Fire worm

The fire-worms are benthic animals that live under rocks and among other marine organisms; they have white, numerous, and large bristles that may cause skin irritation.

Sea slug on brown alga

Nudibranch (sea slug)

Nudibranch (sea slug) on green alga

Bivalve

Scale worm - detail of a scale (elytrum)

Scale worm

Tubiculous polychaete

Polychaete

Spider crab

The spider crab has very long and thin legs and a narrow triangular body with a long rostrum.

Crab

Crab

Hermit crab

Hermit crab.

Tubiculous polychaete

Sabellid polychaete.

Tubiculous polychaete

Sabellid polychaete.

Black sea urchin

The black sea urchin spines has relatively thick and very resistant spines. The coloration of the spines and carapace varies from dark brown to black. Known locally as “pindá” it is an abundant species on the Brazilian coast, coastal, found predominantly in holes bore into the rocks. It feeds on algae and encrusting animals. Occurs from Florida to southern Brazil, as well as West Indies, Bermuda, Ascension Island, St Helena and Angola.

Mangrove trees

Hydroid

Colony on a brown algae.

Sea cucumber

Adult specimen in dorsal view.

Nudibranch (sea slug)

Sea slug associated with a bryozoan

Echiuran

The Echiura, or spoon worms, have a pear shaped, non-segmented body and a large and non-retractile proboscis. In the anterior ventral region there is a pair of setae or hooks. They live in burrows in sand, mud, corals and coral crevices. Some species are found inside the tests of dead sand dollars and between the shells of dead bivalves. There is strong evidence that echiurans are in fact modified annelids.

Marks made by the bivalve Macoma into the sand and mud bottom

Orifice through which the inhalant siphon of the bivalve is extended, and star-shaped marks left on the sediment its retraction.

Snail on white mangrove roots

Poliqueta silídeo

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