Trivia multilirata, the jewel of the Torre del Cerrano Marine Protected Area

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After the last wintry coastal storms, on the shore of the Torre del Cerrano Marine Protected Area, especially in Zone B (general reserve), several species of molluscs and some sea stars beached. Thousands of shells of different size covered the shore, and many sea birds, such as gulls, benefited of such a tasty and well-served food. Continue reading

The green toad

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The green toad (Bufotes lineatus, previously Bufo viridis) is an anuran toad (toads without tail). It has a light colour with greenish spots (from which its name comes), yellow iris with elliptical pupil and glands for cutaneous breathing more subparallel and long than the common toad (Bufo bufo). Usually the male green toad is 6-8 cm long, and the female is bigger, 8-10 cm. The species is strictly protected by the Berne Convention for the Protection of minor fauna and Annex IV of the Habitats Directive. Continue reading

On such a day… the Sperm whale

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“On such a day – very much such a sweetness as this – I struck my first whale – a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty, forty, forty years ago! – ago! Forty years of continual whaling! Forty years of privation, and peril, and stormtime! Forty years on this pitiless sea! For forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horror of the deep!”, with these words captain Ahab, the protagonist of Moby Dick, the masterpiece of the American literature by Herman Melville, recalls the epic of whaling in which he was involved as well as many other men in the 1800s, especially Americans. Moby Dick, the white whale, was a sperm whale. Continue reading

The little egret

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One of the many bird species that you can watch at the mouth of Cerrano is the little egret (Egretta garzetta), a small white heron about 60 cm long, with black beak and legs, yellow feet and iris. The little egret catches the fish at the stream mouth with elegant movements that capture the eye of the passer-by or birdwatcher. … Continue reading