Robin’s Rock Pool

Robin and Keith explore a small rock pool with Mum at low tide. They stand on a broad dry ledge. Robin notices a pale spiral shell beside a stone beneath the clear water.

Robin points to the shell, and it seems to move a little. Keith thinks a ripple pushed it. But the nearby weed stays still. No wave reaches their pool.

Mum suggests watching from the ledge before deciding what happened. The boys settle beside her with their hands out of the water. They leave the shell and stone alone.

Two tiny legs appear beneath the shell. More legs appear on the other side. Something alive is carrying it! Robin realises the water is not moving an empty shell.

The little crab crawls towards the stone and pauses in its shade. Mum explains that a hermit crab uses a shell as a home. It carries its shelter when it moves.

Keith watches the shell tilt as the crab climbs over a small bump. Robin follows its journey with his finger above the water. He does not touch or block its path.

They draw the spiral shell and the legs they can see in their notebook. Mum asks which clue changed their first idea about the shell’s unexpected movement.

The crab rests behind the stone as the family leaves the pool undisturbed. “It looked empty until we waited,” says Robin, pleased that watching closely revealed the animal inside.