Last year’s winner keeps its crown! 

The most common crab around our coasts, the shore crab is distinguished by the five serrated ‘teeth’ on the edge of its shell which sit to either side of the eyes. They aren’t picky eaters, feeding off seaweeds, mussels, barnacles and even small crabs. When you find one, you can tell whether it’s a boy or a girl by looking at the triangle shape on the underside of their shell. Males will have a thin, pointy triangle but females have a much broader shape, which they use to carry their eggs. Although they’re sometimes called green crabs, they vary in colour and can be green, brown or red. 

Periwinkles are sea snails and this is the largest one that we find around our shores, reaching up to 5cm in length. They are common on rocks, in crevices and hidden within the seaweed, especially around the middle and lower areas of the shore. They move over the rocks to feed, using a rasping tongue called the radula to scrap tiny bits of algae off the surface. In some places these snails are gathered by hand, sold, and eaten. This means that in the UK edible periwinkles have a combined worth of £5 million annually! 

The beadlet anemone looks like a dark red (or occasionally green) blob when the tide is out, but find one under water and you might see it fully extended, displaying its tentacles to catch food from the water. They use these to catch shrimps, small fish and crabs. The beadlet anemone is aggressive to its neighbours and will fight off other anemones from its patch with stinging cells, called nematocysts, found in the ring of bright blue beads at the base of the tentacles. These nematocysts work similarly to a jellyfish sting, as anemones are related to many jellyfish species. 

Finding a shanny under a rock is always a shock as they tend to flap about if disturbed! Although fish are difficult to identify, the shanny is distinguished by a long dorsal fin, and no head tentacles. They are omnivores that feed on other intertidal animals such as crabs, gastropods, barnacles and amphipods, as well as algae. These fish are perfectly adapted for life in the intertidal zone, with smooth scaleless skin that allows them to slip between rocks and an ability to temporarily breathe air!  

Easily spotted as cone-like shells attached to rocks around the coast, limpets are actually snails! They might seem a bit dull when the tide is out, but when they are covered by water, they move all around the rock surface eating algae. Their tongue, which they use to scrape food off, is the strongest biological structure known to man! After this feeding actively, they always return to the same spot on the rock, known as their ‘home scar’ which has been worn away over time by the edge of their shells. There are a couple of similar looking limpet species that are difficult to distinguish by their shells alone.   

The hermit crab lives inside the shell of sea snails, like whelks and periwinkles. They have tough front claws, one of which is much bigger than the other. These claws help protect their soft body which is curled up within the shell. As they get bigger the hermit crab will move house, finding a larger shell to live in. Sometimes, when two hermit crabs meet, one will knock on the shell of the other, drawing the crab out and fighting until one “wins” the larger shell. 

Difficult to spot as they dart back into the darkness, prawns are found in rockpools and under boulders, scavenging on whatever they can find. They have characteristic red tiger strips along their body and a serrated rostrum along their heads. Common prawns and rockpool prawns are extremely similar looking, and are only distinguished by the number of “teeth” on their rostrum. Female prawns can carry up to 4000 eggs along their legs!  

The cutest critter in the sea! These sea stars are small and fat, with five broad arms. They vary a lot in colour, from brown to green or even orange. Although they’re cute, they're predators that consume molluscs, worms and brittle stars. They also eat microbes and decaying seaweed. You wouldn’t want a common cushion star at your dinner party as they invert their stomachs outside their body to digest their food! 

Bladder wrack is a brown seaweed, distinguished by their paired air bladders. These help the plant to float when they are covered by water, allowing them to reach the sunlight to photosynthesize. Bladder wrack is an important species on the shore as it provides food and shelter for many other animals including tube worms and herbivorous sea snails. It has been found to contain chemicals with anti-ageing properties and is used in some face creams. 

Blue mussels are the most common mussel found in the British Isles, with a characteristic blue-purple shell. They attach to rocks using a mass of strong fibres called a byssus. Using their bodies like a pump, blue mussels filter water for algae and detritus they can eat. Due to their feeding method, they often accumulate pathogenic bacteria and viruses, meaning they are common culprits of food poisoning if not cooked thoroughly!