SPIRULA SPIRULA !

This blog is for Miriam.. because she didn't know what the shells were which are washed up in their hundreds on the West Coast beaches.
New Zealand has a lot of squid, in fact, more than 85 species.
The tiny ram’s horn squid (Spirula spirula) which lives around here,is unique and has an internal, coiled shell, for buoyancy, (see photo) which allows it to move up and down in the water.
Although they live far from shore, they show they are here by the quantities of empty shells that wash ashore, following their death after breeding.
Spirula spirula, is a deepwater squid-like cephalopod, live specimens are very rarely seen because they are such deep ocean dwellers.
It is also known as the little post horn squid.
Although the whole animal is rarely seen, the internal shell is very light and commonly floats ashore on beaches. The internal shell of this animal is known as the "ram's horn shell". Often they are used to decorate jewellery boxes and the like; the girls and I collect them by the cupful in the summer.