COQUINAS

Peninsular Florida was formed about 180 million years ago (ma) when the super continent Pangea broke apart and formed the continents North America and South America/Africa.  Since then Florida has been underwater many times as the global climate alternated between ice ages and global warming. Sea levels were as much as 150 feet higher than today. The most recent time Florida was underwater was about 2.5 ma.

As a result, layers of coral, shellfish and fish skeletons piled up creating a limestone base hundreds (in some places thousands) of feet thick. Sand and clay from land erosion were mixed in.

This history is quite obvious when observing any excavation or deep grading that occurs when new housing developments are started. Once through the thin top soil layer, shells of all sizes and shapes are exposed and available for the picking. These shells must be at least 2.5 million years old, and probably much older!

One such development is under construction about a mile from my home. Deep “borrow pits” are used to supply the fill to raise the level of home sites for good drainage. (The pits will eventually fill with rain water and become lakes in the community) One pit is exceptionally deep at about 25 feet below the surface. I thought it would be interesting to go explore the exposed sub soil and see what I could find and identify. My thinking is that the deeper the hole, the further back in time the sediment was deposited.

Borrow Pit

In some areas the color of the sediment was brown and looked like a clay based soil. There were no rocks.  In other areas, where shells predominated, the color was almost white.  Most of the shells were very small or tiny fragments of shells. It was here where I decided to concentrate my search. I was not to be disappointed.

Sea shell is the common name for the exoskeleton of animals belonging to the phylum Mollusca (or mollusks). With over 85,000 species known, it is the largest marine phylum.   The two most common classes of mollusks are the univalves (single shells) or snails, and bivalves (two shells) such as clams, oysters, and scallops. The beauty and charm of these shells belies the very aggressive nature of many of these mollusks when alive. Some will pry open the shell of its prey, or drill a hole in the shell and suck out the living victim’s flesh. Many have highly toxic poisons that paralyze their prey. Although rare, humans have been known to die from mollusk stings.

The most common bivalve in Florida is the coquina. It is a small, rarely larger than ½ inch, beautifully colored clam which can be found live at any beach, by digging in the sand as a wave retreats. They are quite edible and considered a treat by many, although it would take dozens to make even an appetizer portion. As at the beach, these tiny mollusks proliferated the exposed loose subsoil of the construction dig.

 

I was able to collect and identify 10 different species of shells and one nice sized coquina rock. I brought them home and photographed them.

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Alphabet Cone

Branham's Tulip

Florida Crown Conch

Lightning Welk

Milk Conch

Shark's Eye

Quahog Clam

Venus Clams

The term “coquina” also refers to a sedimentary rock composed primarily of shell and shell fragments. These limestone rocks vary in hardness from loose packed to building quality solidity. They are used in landscaping, erosion prevention fill and beach nourishment.

Coquinas at Caspersen Beach

It was also my objective today to harvest one of these smaller rocks from the pit, bring it home, and crack it open to discover ancient remains of who knows what…. maybe an extinct trilobite fossil or two. (Tribolites went extinct 250 ma, so that would be extremely unlikely.)

Coquina Rock

Splitting this coquina rock turned out to be harder than I planned. After attempting a hammer and chisel, I took the rock outside, put it on the ground, and hit it repeatedly with a 2 pound maul. I was able to split off pieces. What hidden ancient marine treasures did I find? Unfortunately, none. The inside of this coquina looked exactly like the outside. Small shells and shell pieces glued together by organic sediment.

Splitting a Coquina Rock

The process of building shell and limestone layers on the sea floor is ongoing today. The main chemical of this deposition is Calcium Carbonate, CaCO3. Carbon is being trapped in the shells of untold trillions of mollusks and permanently stored in this sediment. This is one of the few permanent carbon sinks in the world today and helps to balance the increasing carbon emission sources. The protection of our oceans is critical. Mollusks exist only in the relatively shallow waters near land masses. And these are the same waters that are most susceptible to pollution.  We need international treaties to stop the poisonous runoff and discharges that are rampant in the developing and newly industrialized countries. 

 It is amazing to think that these lowly mollusks play such an important part in the world's ecological balance.

 

 

Wildflowers of Carlton Reserve

Literally 500 yards from my home in Venice is the real jewel of all of the many Sarasota’s parks and reserves, the Carlton Reserve.  Unfortunately for me (but not the Reserve) I would have to wade across the Myaka River to get there. So instead, this morning, I decided to drive the 5 miles to get there via the Border Road Bridge.  What makes the Reserve so attractive is not its large size, which at 25,000 acres puts it just smaller than the abutting 28,000 acre Myaka River State Park, but that it is still undiscovered. It’s located at the dead end of Border Road near some cattle and horse ranches and small homes. You have to target Carlton as a destination.

I parked in the small sandy parking lot near the interpretive kiosk and picked up a map. No other cars were present. There is no fee. I carried my normal hiking gear: binoculars, camera, water, bug spray, a snack, and my GPS/i-Phone. I have over 80 miles of trails to choose from, and if I include the connecting Myaka River State Park trails, there are hundreds of miles of trail options. Camping is allowed as well as biking and horse back riding.

 I chose as a destination the old turpentine camp, where 100 years ago, near slave labor harvested pine resin from the plentiful Longleaf Pine forests. Round trip for me would be about 6 miles. The trails are well marked with numbers at intersections and colored markers on the more popular trails. 
 
A small pavilion, toilets, a log cabin and about 20 tent camp sites mark the “Park Area” of the Reserve. Once past this relative civilized area, I headed into the wild on a narrow grassy trail, called the “red” trail. Within minutes a large black pig appeared 100 feet ahead! I wasn’t ready. By the time I got my camera out, he was off the trail into the thick underbrush. But this was not to be the last pig of the day.

Carlton Pavillion
 

Carlton Visitor Center

 It was after 9 am, so there was little action in the birding category.  So Instead of looking up, I looked closely at the ground around me. At the edge of the trail, I noticed a variety of wildflowers, some less than 1/8 inch, all struggling with the weeds and grasses to put forth their colorful faces.

Clustered Rock-Rose

It is April, when plants and flowers are reviving themselves from the relative cold of winter. I should have no trouble finding subjects to shoot. So I decided today to concentrate on these beautiful, delicate and short-lived plants, and photograph, and identify as many as possible. Photographing plants is much easier than animals. They don’t run from you, you can get as close as you want, and you can take as many shots as you want. So I slowed my pace considerably and felt my excitement growing at each turn of the trail, as I spotted and shot each new species.






 The trails I picked meandered through two distinct habitats: Relatively dry pine flatlands, and Palm and Oak lowlands. The sunny openness of the pines provided the more fertile hunting ground.

Pine Flatlands Trail

Oak Palm Lowlands

 

My method as usual is to take a lot of shots of each species I encounter. Then at home, I load them onto the pc, pick the best ones of each, and enlarge and crop if necessary. Then I attempt to ID them from the Audubon Field Guide to Florida or the internet.  

By the time I got to the Turpentine Camp, I had at least 15 different species safely in my camera. The camp itself was only a clearing in the scrub, with a few 200 year old oaks, providing shade.  Any outbuildings or artifacts had long since disappeared.

Turpentine Camp

On the return trip via the power line trail, I came across a wild boar! He was in a metal cage trap, not at all happy at the situation. Carlton contracts a licensed trapper to remove feral pigs from the reserve. They are sold to game farms or, if sick or injured, are euthanized. A few find there way to the dinner tables of local Floridians.

Caught

By the time I returned to my parked car, I had captured a total of 27 wildflower species. Identifying them however proved to be a lot harder than I expected.  So to help me, I picked up a copy of Audubon Field Guide to Wildflowers at the local book store.

All wildflowers are members of the phylum Angiosperms, which include all flowering plants and trees. But Florida alone is home to over 4000 species of wildflowers!  After considerable effort, I was able to ID the 13 listed below. 



Common Blue Hearts



Common Tickseed

 

Daisy Fleabane

 



Horrible Thistle



 

Lance-Leaved Arrowhead

 



Pickerelweed



 

Pineweed

 



White-Topped Sedge



Yellow Wood Sorel



Yellow Bachelor's Button

Common Beggar Tick

 

Poison Hemlock



Pipewort

 The use of the “macro” mode on my camera allows me to get very close to the subjects (within one inch). The resulting  bigger-than-life images reveal the detail, beauty and complexity of these wildflowers which I had previously been unappreciative of. I know I have truly only scratched the surface of Florida wildflowers. But now, whenever I'm out on a trail, I’ll have another facet of this wonderful Florida biosphere to explore.

Camoflage

The dictionary defines camouflage as "the use of materials, coloration or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see (crypsis), or by disguising them as something else (mimesis)."

In military operations, camouflage is one of the most highly developed and effective forms of defense. Camouflage design for uniforms and equipment has become a very serious area of warfare. The new stealth technology makes the F22 Raptor aircraft virtually invisible to enemy radar. This is also a form of camouflage.

In nature, camouflage is also one of the most highly evolved and effective defense mechanisms available. Most insects, small reptiles, birds and baby mammals are on some predator’s dinner menu. The ability to blend into their natural surroundings (crypsis) makes it much more likely they will survive and pass on their genes to future generations. Juvenile camouflage is effective in many species, but may morph into beautiful mating plumage and markings in adults.  Some insects have evolved large eye patterns on their wings or backs to make them appear threatening to their predators. (mimesis)

But not only prey use camouflage. Many predators hide themselves in order to surprise their wary or faster victims.

The American alligator is a great example of the use of prey and predator camouflage. Baby alligators, less than 10 inches long, have yellow spots on brown bodies that allow them to blend into the detritus around the marsh’s edges. As adults, gators are primarily dark grey or black. They can hide among fallen trees and branches in the blackwater lagoons, motionless and capture the much more agile fish and birds.

Perhaps the masters of all camo techniques, are the anoles and chameleons. They can actually change their skin color depending on the color of their surroundings.  They have evolved special cells called chromatophores which can change pigment strength based on hormone signals from the brain.

Now we’re gong to have a little fun. Study the following eleven pictures, which are of various animals using camouflage to hide. Try to identify the following:

A Baby Gator

An Adult Gator

A Green Tree Frog

A  Walking Stick

A White Peacock Moth

A Green Lynx Spider

A Grasshopper

A Night Heron

A Brown Anole (lizzard)

A Picture without any animals (just to make it harder)

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

Here are the answers:

Pic 1-Green Tree Frog (Easy)



Pic 2 -Grasshopper (harder)

 

Pic 3- Baby Alligator (easy)

 

 

Pic 4- Night Heron

  

 Pic 5- Beautiful Myakka River

 

Pic 6- Brown Anole (the master of camo)

 

 Pic 7- Walking Stick

 

Pic 8- Moth

  

Pic 9- Adult Alligator

 

Pic 10- Green Lynx Spider

As we can see, evolution has provided these animals with the ability to blend in with their habitat and survive.

But what about this Lubber Grasshopper? This bright yellow and red large grasshopper is both flightless and slow moving. He almost begs to be eaten by birds and small mammals.

 

Obviously camouflage was not needed for this species to thrive. So how is it that he has survived?

The Lubber Grasshopper emits a foul smelling secretion when he is disturbed. It’s likely this stink inhibits predators from considering him for dinner. He is the skunk of the insect world.

So odor can be an effective defense mechanism as well as camoflage. More on this later.