1. Anemone
Ever stop to look at the brilliant purple-tipped tentacles of the anemone as it drifts in sea currents? Anemones are beautiful, but it’s common knowledge that their tentacles can irritate the skin.
Anemones are carnivorous, and will use their stinging cells to paralyse small prey items that get caught in their tentacles. After the prey is stunned, it gets stuck to the sticky tentacles and brought to the anemone’s mouth for digestion.
This impressive attack system can be observed if you bring along some tuna or wet pet food to the beach. Most anemones live in shallow water, not on reefs, so you’ll be able to find one by wading. Just drop the meat into the anemone’s arms, and you’ll see it grab the morsel and place it into its mouth.
Coney, photography by Ron Lucas2. Coney and eel pair
One of the most impressive feeding behaviours you can see in Bermuda is the interspecies collaboration between coneys and eels. The two species work so well together because their hunting methods are effectively foils of each other. Coneys are large gulper-feeders that work best chasing prey in open water. Eels are small and nimble, allowing them to fit in to deep crevices within the reef to find prey.
Coneys and eels have recognised the advantage in hunting together; sometimes the eel makes a kill in the reef, sometimes prey will flee into the coney’s waiting jaws. Researchers estimate that both fish were five times more successful in catching prey together than hunting alone.
Coneys stand on end and shake their heads to signal an invitation to hunt. In Bermuda, look out for the bicolor white and brown coney, and red hind cruising over the reef. You might find a goldentail moray eel close behind.
3. Huntsman spider
Two of the most skin-crawling critters found in Bermuda are the huntsman spider (sometimes locally called a wolf spider) and the cockroach. Huntsman spiders can grow to very large sizes, up to 10cm, much larger than many other spiders found on island, but they are seldom seen because they are outcompeted on the mainland by other species. On Nonsuch island, they are still common.
Huntsman spiders and centipedes are some of the only native animals able to eat a full-grown cockroach. If you see one of these monstrosities outside, it’s only a matter of time before they find some prey to strike. Unlike many other spiders, huntsman spiders catch their prey directly, without the use of a web. To see one in action is a marvel, but it does sort of make your skin crawl!
4. Skink eating cheese
The Bermuda skink is our only endemic lizard. They have smooth, scaled skin and clawed feet. Our skink population is now confined to rocky shore habitats, but they also used to inhabit upland forests.
Skink numbers have sadly declined, due to predation by introduced species including domestic cats and the kiskadee. Competition for habitat is also a problem, and skinks must vie for living space and prey with the introduced anoles.
Their normal diet consists of small invertebrates like roly polies and sea fleas, but they will also eat carrion. On Nonsuch Island, skink populations are thriving as they would have before importation of plants and animals by humans changed our natural landscape.
Here, a great many skinks are happy to eat little pieces of cheddar cheese from the main house’s porch, which they are attracted to by smell. This is a uniquely Bermudian sight to see if you ever get the chance.
Kiskadee5. Kiskadee cracking palmetto berries
The Bermuda palmetto is a very important species for our upland forests. It can be distinguished easily from the introduced Chinese fan palm by its firmer leaves, which stand up rigidly. The ends of the Chinese fan palm’s leaves droop down vertically and jostle in the breeze.
The flowers of palmetto trees are loved by honeybees, and the fruit they produce is food for many birds. In particular, the introduced kiskadee has become an expert at getting at the berries’ flesh. The skin on the berries is very tough, so kiskadees have learned to place berries on a hard surface and pierce them with their beaks. Often, you can hear the kiskadee’s banging on Bermuda roofs.
6. Lizard hunting moths
The gigantic Warwick lizard can be seen in the daytime, but it is also a nocturnal hunter. These brilliant green lizards were an accidental introduction. They were first recorded in 1940 in the central parishes, and their population is spreading to other areas of the island.
These large and feisty lizards can eat quite large insect prey. You can set up a viewing platform to see them in action by putting a light source outside at nighttime. Place it somewhere that you can view it inconspicuously – you could even put it in front of a window so that you can watch safely from inside. The light source will attract moths, and before long, a lizard will likely notice the food source and begin hunting.
These curious creatures are quite slow moving, careful not to startle the insects, but strike with amazing speed and accuracy.
