It would not be incorrect to state that as a youngster, exploring the foreshore of Schoenmakerskop, I treated the slimy green pools above the shoreline as little more than abominable, detestable and obnoxious. If they had miraculously disappeared before my next visit, I would have celebrated their demise.
Little did I comprehend the significance of these glutinous bright green preternatural pools. Somewhat implausibly, their appearance belies their significance. In part thanks to a documentary by the timeless David Attenborough, did I later learn about stromatolites, yet I made no connection between these sludgy pools and those cyanobacterial mounds that David, in his inimitable fashion, waded out at Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Australia, to view close-up.
Main picture: Stromatolites at Seaview, one of the sites where the new species of prawn like burrower was discovered