The sky was grey, the wind was cool and Bar Beach at Narooma was deserted and uninviting. It was a wonderful day for a beach scavenger hunt.

Members of Eurobodalla’s Nature Coast Marine Group met with some of the Sapphire Coast Marine Society, including some very enthusiastic girls, to explore the strand line from Kianga to the breakwall. It was amazing what was found. Many different kinds of shells, sand hoppers, parts of crabs, remains of shearwaters, the backbone of a leatherjacket and egg cases of three kinds of molluscs were just some of the discoveries. Unfortunately there was also quite a bit of plastic, a number of fishers’ glow sticks and other rubbish which were removed by the walkers.

Very little was missed as everyone slowly made their way along the beach, picking up anything of interest and sharing what they knew with the group. Alan Scrymgeour’s encyclopedic knowledge of marine life was very much appreciated as he enthusiastically interpreted the finds.

Among the most interesting flotsam were the numerous Ram’s Horn Shells. These little coiled tubes with hollow chambers separated by partitions are the internal shells of Ram’s Horn Squid (Spirula spirula). The small, cylindrical squid grows to about 6cm long and can adjust its buoyancy by altering the gas and liquid in the chambers of its shell. The shell is at the tail end of the animal which indicates that the squid floats head down in the water.

Ram’s Horn Squid are usually found between 600-700 metres deep during the day but move to shallower water of around 300m at night. Although they occur over a wide area of the Pacific and Indian Oceans the whole animals are rarely seen.

Males have two of their lower arms specially shaped to transfer packets of sperm to the females. It’s thought the females probably lay eggs in deep water at the bottom of the continental slope as young squid have been collected from these depths of up to 1700m. The shells would endure a pressure of more than half a tonne at those depths.

Since, like most squid and cuttlefish, the females die after egg laying it is possible that the large number of shells found were a result. However, the eggs may have been laid a long way from our part of the coast as the Ram’s Horn Shells float and most were coated with tiny Goose Barnacles.