One of my favorite finds, although plentiful on the shorelines I frequent, is the mermaid purse.
This little pod-like object is in fact an egg sack of a skate- that protects the embryo inside. It usually can be found on the beach and resembles seaweed. When dried out, it is black and hard with four curving tendrils on each corner. These tendrils help the pod anchor itself to the sea floor.
If you take a look at the picture above, this is a Skate’s egg pod. Most likely a clearnose Skate because I come across them frequently in the same area this was found. To learn more about skates READ THIS. Shark egg pods have very curly and long tendrils, tend to be not as wide but long, while skate’s have shorter tendrils with just a subtle curve to them. I held the Mermaid’s Purse to the sun which illuminates it, revealing the embryo inside. The little skate inside wiggled and squirmed inside the case.
If you find a mermaid’s purse on the shore that is hard and black, the baby inside has already broken free from it and swam away. However, on some more lucky occasions you will discover the baby still inside, the pod will be squishy and a reddish tint. If this is the case, make sure you return it to the water so it can hatch, preferably fasten it with seaweed to a jetty in shallow water.
If you find a shark’s mermaid purse along the Delaware coast, it could most likely be a Dogfish shark as these are the egg-laying sharks common in the area, other species of sharks gracing the Delaware shore are live-birthing species.
One of my favorite shorelines is in fact a nursery area for the skates and sharks, with mermaid purses covering the water line. However if you travel 3 miles south, the shoreline has absolutely none, this represents how location is a very distinct factor- these are creatures of habit and return to the same ideal birthing locations time after time.
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