Welcome to Grassy Key

    Grassy Key. The Phantom of the Islands.  A        crescent shaped emerald gem set in the            waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Grassy Key disapears...then re-appears

Inhabited by a vast number of hermit crabs.

if it weren't named Grassy it could be called Hermit Key

There you see it. Grassy Key. Covered entirely with smooth cordgrass. Spartina Alterfolia.

Moon Snail, Sharks Eye, well no its a Hermit Crab.

These are also prolific Grassy Key occupants. Nassas, mud snails. Thousands of em.

Juvenile Horse Shoe Crab. Limulus Polyphemus. 

Grassy Key & me against the Gulf.

Well these are the largest sea grape, Sea Squirts ever seen by this blogger.

That's a pear whelk and a tulip shell...guess again. Both a re home to hermits.

Empty (can ya believe it) Banded Tulip Shell.

And an unidentified blob, mass .

Now that's a docile little shrimp. However he does carry a weapon; a pistol. His right claw is enlarged and he can fire it making a pop.

He's the Snaping Shrimp (Alpheidae)of

 Grassy Key.

Grassy Key. Elevation above sea level I'm guessing about 2 ft.

Sea level is the mid point between mean low tide and mean high tide.

Sometimes you see it sometimes you don't.