Although I'm really a microbiologist who happens to work with Eastern oysters, I never get tired of looking at pretty oyster shells. These two beauties from Tuesday's field work have hitchhikers - Crepidula fornicata or slipper shells. See a couple of these tiny molluscs stacked on top of each other? (Left oyster, right edge.) Fun fact: Crepidula are sequential hermaphrodites, and change sex depending on where they are in the stack. Large shells at the bottom are female, small shells on top are male. If the female dies, the largest male in the stack becomes a female.

#science #biology #molluscs #marinebiology