On Thursday morning we discovered where the tidepools are, on a long stretch of beach laid bare by an incredible minus five tide. At high tide, the water reaches up to the grass on the far right.
We squelched along through sand that had the consistency of pudding. We had to be careful not to sink into it or to slip on a piece of kelp. The kelp is an important basis for life in the bay, and it was there that we found all sorts of amazing creatures.
We saw lots of sea stars, some tiny ones huddling together in groups, some enormous ones laying claim to entire rocks. The brightest was this blood star.
I wasn't sure what this creature was -- maybe a baby eel? We also saw several baby flounders the size of my thumbnail, hiding themselves in the sand and waiting for the tide to come back in.
There were tons of anemones, including this lovely burrowing anemone. If you touch it, it closes up its speckled tentacles and tries to eat your finger. We also saw some spectacular Christmas anemones like huge red and green flowers.
And strange spiny eelworms that dug into the sand when they noticed our presence.
On Thursday morning we discovered where the tidepools are, on a long stretch of beach laid bare by an incredible minus five tide. At high tide, the water reaches up to the grass on the far right.
We squelched along through sand that had the consistency of pudding. We had to be careful not to sink into it or to slip on a piece of kelp. The kelp is an important basis for life in the bay, and it was there that we found all sorts of amazing creatures.
We saw lots of sea stars, some tiny ones huddling together in groups, some enormous ones laying claim to entire rocks. The brightest was this blood star.
I wasn't sure what this creature was -- maybe a baby eel? We also saw several baby flounders the size of my thumbnail, hiding themselves in the sand and waiting for the tide to come back in.
There were tons of anemones, including this lovely burrowing anemone. If you touch it, it closes up its speckled tentacles and tries to eat your finger. We also saw some spectacular Christmas anemones like huge red and green flowers.
And strange spiny eelworms that dug into the sand when they noticed our presence.
2 comments:
Very extrememly cool!
The kelp looks like egg noodles. Everything is so cool, I love the pics.
Post a Comment