Whelk egg cases

The beach was littered with these clusters, some three times larger than this one.

This clump shown is not sweetcorn on a fork, but a cluster on the top and underside of an oyster shell.

I spent a considerable amount time trying to identify it, searching online for sponges, seaweeds, etc.

Eventually I asked my friend J, the font of all knowledge. She immediately said "egg cases" and that was the Open Sesame to the secret cavern of the whelk egg cases.

All the following comes from various sites on the Internet.

The sexes are separate; breeding takes place from October to May, and the eggs are attached to rocks, shells and stones in protective capsules.

Each capsule contains as many as 1000 eggs, and the capsules of several females are grouped together in large masses of over 2000.

Only a few of these eggs will develop; most eggs are used as a source of food by the growing embryos.
There is no free-swimming larval stage, instead, crawling young emerge from the capsules after several months.
Empty egg masses frequently wash up on beaches, and are often mistaken for sponges

These structures were once used by sailors for washing and were known as "sea wash balls"


Thank you J


You're whelkome!