Any noise..

Annoys an Oyster but a noisy noise annoys an Oyster most!!

These are a few of the shells I collected whilst visiting Whitstable beach yesterday. I had never seen or found a slipper shell before (seen in the foreground). The latin name for which is Crepidula fornicata. I thought it looked like a slug in retreat. It is infact an invading species from the Western Atlantic. Unluckily they are very damaging to Oyster beds and have a unusual lifecycle. They are often found living in a stack one on top of each other. The oldest and largest shell is female and will live at the base of the pile with only smaller males on top and if she dies the largest male will change and become a female. So perhaps after a noisy noise a slipper shell invasion would be second on the list of annoyances for an Oyster.