Besides early morning runners and huddles of lovers, a new group of people have been visiting the beaches of Mumbai lately: tidepoolers. The realisation that a great wealth of marvellous creatures live hidden in the pools of water left behind by the receding tide has created an interest in the tidepool microhabitats of urban coastlines all over India. From zoanthid colonies and flowery anemones to striking sea slugs and many-hued sea sponges, city dwellers are now noticing a host of marine creatures. Children may have been turning over rocks and peering under fallen tree trunks forever, but the interest in tidepools has awoken a new curiosity.
What makes microhabitats so special? According to photographer Ripan Biswas, who has won many accolades for his stunning macro shots of tiny creatures, microhabitats are fascinating because “you can find amazing biodiversity at your doorstep, on your lawn, or in a roadside pond.” Biswas was a part of the jury for #TheUncontest, RoundGlass Sustain’s annual experiment in collaborative storytelling. Meet the rest of the jury here.
We received hundreds of images that showed our fascination with these magical little kingdoms hiding in plain sight. They revealed glimpses of tiny spaces in nature that serve as homes and safe places, some for a few hours and others for entire lifetimes.
The greatest revelation in the photographs we’ve received and the stories they tell is that, like everything else in nature, once you give microhabitats the gift of attention, the layers begin to peel away. The result is surprising realisations, stories of inspiring resilience, and insights into the dramatic lives of little folk.
For this exercise, we’ve been a little flexible in the way we’ve interpreted microhabitats. Technically, something that’s a home for a few minutes is not a microhabitat. Still, we’ve included some of these temporary homes in this narrative to encourage new ways of seeing tiny creatures and the spaces they occupy.
Mumbai’s tidepools are a lesson in the resilience of nature. Despite the plastic on the beaches, the city’s effluents flowing into the water, and the boat traffic, small and unique sea creatures like this ornamental spider crab make tidepools their home. This spider is a picky customer, choosing a microhabitat that offers sufficient algae growth and other immobile creatures like sponges and anemones. As the name suggests, the ornamental spider crab lets other organisms like sea sponges, hydroids, turf algae, and bryozoans grow on its body as “ornaments” to camouflage in its surroundings. Instead of scurrying away when threatened, it moves away very slowly. In the process, it creates a microhabitat on its own body.
Photo: Gaurav Patil | Location: Haji Ali, Mumbai
Tidepools seem fragile and temporary to us; they are made and unmade twice a day and face numerous threats. And yet, it is on a rock in a tidepool that this spiral melongena lays its eggs. The sight of this egg-laying marine snail (gastropod) stopped the photographer and those with him in their tracks. He says, “It was a first sighting for many of the people accompanying me. As a marine biologist, I regularly conduct walks introducing Mumbaikars to the wonders along the city’s coastline. Many of the sights people encounter on these walks are complete surprises, like this.”
Spiral melongena lay transparent egg capsules, containing scores of eggs, in rows on hard surfaces like this rock. In the background are Mumbai’s high rises, mute witnesses to the spectacles in the tidepools.
Photo: Abhishek Nandkishor Neelam Satam | Location: Girgaon Chaupati, Mumbai
In some parts of the intertidal zone, the movement of the water creates tidepool habitats. In others, a myriad of creatures crawl, swim, and scuttle to find refuge as the tide moves in and floods the ground. The crabs, snails, and mudskippers of the Sundarbans take shelter on high ground, such as tree trunks, during the twice-daily high tide. On this grey mangrove trunk, a mud crab and several tree crabs shelter alongside nerite snails and mudskippers.
Photo: Anirban Manna | Location: Sundarbans, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal
Safe refuges can be very small. A jumping spider sticks together the tiny fern-like leaves of the acacia tree to build itself a shelter. Perhaps it was protecting eggs or hiding from a predator. It had also built a door that could be pulled down to escape notice while it hid in its cosy shelter.
Discovering such microhabitats can be a source of wonder and joy. The photographer says, “Living in a small village has been a blessing for me. Every day, all I have to do to find a great subject for macro photography is walk out of my house and discover another microhabitat where a little creature is living out a part of its life.”
Photo: Sameer Bhalekar | Location: Gholvad, Maharashtra
To us, a leaf is ephemeral, but to a tiny organism like the Asian spotted tortoiseshell beetle, it is where it lives out important stages of its lifecycle. The photographer spotted these beetles on a sweet potato plant outside a sal forest close to his home in Cooch Behar, West Bengal. He observed the plant for several days as the beetle went through various stages and finally captured this unusual photo, with all the distinct life stages evident in one frame. Here, you can see brightly hued adults, about 6-8 mm in length, mating. You can also see the tiny brown larvae and the flat yellow-golden brown pupae. The young larvae scrape the surface of leaves, leaving behind a pale or brown translucent membrane. Older larvae produce round holes in the leaves and can destroy the plant completely when feeding in groups.
Photo: Anirban Dutta | Location: Cooch Behar, West Bengal
Microhabitats aren’t just places of rest and refuge, they are also where creatures find food and succour. Crab spiders often sit in or near flowers, waiting for a nectar-hungry insect to visit. Here, a gorgeous white crab spider waits on a Lantana camara bouquet that could fit in a child’s palm. The crab will stay in the same place for extended periods if there is a steady supply of prey. The initial choice of a flower requires some deliberation on the spider’s part — based on smell and the presence of prey. Spiders are the ultimate microhabitat specialists, having adapted to thrive in specific niches over millennia. So, while the white spider may seem overly conspicuous on the vibrant flower, it has good reason for its choice. When lantana flowers are pink/red, their pollen is highly fertile, and the nectar they offer visiting insects is at its finest quality — the crab will be well-fed here.
Photo: Samuel John | Location: Harohalli Lake, North Bengaluru, Karnataka
In nature, there is no such thing as waste. Body parts discarded by one organism are often recycled by another. Usually found under rocks, logs or compost heaps, this woodlouse found an alternative home in a cocoon left behind by the pupa of a cup moth. Damp, dark places such as these serve as suitable daytime hiding spots for the nocturnal crustaceans. Woodlice play an essential role in many ecosystems by breaking down dead plant material and recycling nutrients. This individual, with its repurposed home, is certainly taking its role as a recycler seriously!
Photo: Rakesh Ranjit Jadhav | Location: Nagla block, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai
A habitat is usually the place where an organism makes its home. And sometimes, organisms choose other organisms as their homes.
(1) While it may seem like Wildlife Fashion Week is in progress here, what you see is a two-striped jumping spider that a parasitic fungus (Gibellula sp.) has taken over. Parasitic fungi of the Cordycipitaceae family send out spores to attach to unsuspecting victims such as this spider. Once the victim encounters the spores, the fungus germinates and envelops the host. This jumping spider is being digested from the inside out and will not live long enough to tell the tale of how it unwittingly became the home of a fungus.
Photo: Swarna Chakrabarty | Location: Svasara Jungle Lodge, Kolara gate, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
(2) As their name suggests, parasitoid wasps share a parasitic relationship with their hosts — insects, spiders, or their eggs. This female has found a set of eggs which will serve as a home for her young ones. She will use a syringe-like protrusion at her rear end (ovipositor) to inject her own eggs into the host’s eggs. The eggs will develop into larvae within a few days and then feed on their host from the inside, ensuring their life takes precedence over their host’s.
Photo: Subhankar Bardhan | Location: Cooch Behar, West Bengal
The story of nature’s resilience comes full circle. Just as wild creatures find ways to survive in transient microhabitats like tidepools, surmounting threats like pollution and construction, they also adapt to making homes in urban spaces. They may coopt our homes, our protective walls and ceilings, constructions new and old.
Here, several species of frogs have made a home in an abandoned water tank filled with mosses, ferns, and small plants. The photographer came across the tank during the monsoon. During a day visit, she spotted two Malabar gliding frog nests attached to the walls in the corner of the tank. When she returned at night, the place resonated with the calls of frogs. They were in the tank, on the walls and surrounding plants. In the water, there were Malabar gliding frogs, winged gliding frogs, golden-backed frogs and even a keelback snake that quickly disappeared. The plants nearby had several rolled nests of winged gliding frogs with eggs. This microhabitat stood out for the photographer because it was an ecosystem in itself: “It was a breeding ground that attracted many frogs, and also had its own predator to control their population! I was surprised how a small place can support such a large number of species.”
Photo: Deepika Karanth | Location: Chikmagalur, Karnataka
What are decorative embellishments atop a railing to us are home to these paper wasps. Strolling around Kaikondrahalli Lake in Bengaluru, the photographer noticed these paper wasps building a nest in the fencing around the lake.
Paper wasps are master builders, constructing intricate nests using a paper-like material exclusively prepared by mixing their saliva with wood fibre gathered from dead wood, plant stems, and even wooden structures in our homes.
Normally building their nests in green spaces, where they are important pollinators and play a critical role in “pest control”, paper wasps have adapted to building their sturdy, water-resistant nests in urban spaces.
Microhabitats challenge so many human notions of home. They are transient. Recycled. They are sometimes other creatures. And now, as they adapt to the presence of humans, they are found in newer and ever more surprising spaces. Perhaps that’s a lesson for us to observe the world around with eyes open wide, for who knows where some magical little creature may be living, breathing, sleeping, or taking care of its young.
Photo: Aaditya Deodhar | Location: Kaikondrahalli Lake, Bengaluru
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