what is inside a mermaid purse
with additions by Andy Horton. Regular rockpoolers are likely to have come across 'Mermaid's Purses', containing the eggs or young of the Lesser-spotted Dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula, lying amongst the debris on the tideline. These egg capsules that have been dislodged after being laid by the adult female dogfish are doomed to perish.