A Tidepool Quiz

Time for a quiz. Can you find…Red Thatched Barnacles? Smaller Barnacles? Limpets? Green Algae? A Sea Anemone covered with bits of shell? Small Sea Anemones? A Chiton? Red Algae? A closed California Mussel? A tiny open California Mussel? It is amazing how many living creatures are in a 6” x 8” area of the Intertidal Zone ecosystem. All of these creatures and plants are related and depend on each other for survival. What do you depend on to survive in your ecosystem?

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A Green Sea Hare

Here is another California Sea hare. But, look how different the color is from the earlier Sea Hare picture. I wanted to show you that animals that are the same species can look very different. In your classroom, you have humans in your class with black, blonde, red, or brown hair, Sea Hares can be different colors, too. What color algae do you think this Sea Hare eats? See how it looks like there is a hole above the Sea Hare’s head? Actually, there are two wing-like thingies that are folded over each other and they make a sort of “tunnel.” Like a fish, the Sea Hare has gills. Water enters the “tunnel” and passes over the gills. The gills absorb oxygen from the water. This is kind of like breathing for humans. Then the water squirts out the back, out of that tube or siphon on the back left. This little blob of a creature has many interesting features that help it survive in the Intertidal Zone.


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The Spiny Lobster

I found this Spiny Lobster resting in the tide pool. I thought it was dead, so I touched its head to see what it felt like. IT MOVED!!!!! It sent a BIG SHIVER down my spine! The unfortunate lobster was injured, but very much alive. Let’s take a look at the different parts. See the two short antennae sticking out in front of the eyes? Those help the lobster smell things. Then see the very long curved antennae? Those can “feel” the water moving. So they can feel a predator approaching and hide. Or they can feel nearby prey and attack. It has legs for walking. It has a tail that can curl up quickly. When it curls up, it shoots the lobster in the opposite direction of danger. The biggest difference between a lobster from Maine and one from California is that the Maine Lobster has the big claws. The tail of the California Spiny Lobster is edible and so delicious that laws had to be made to protect the lobster population. Lobster will eat just about anything, dead or alive, as long as it fits in its mouth. A female lobster will lay, on the average, a half a million eggs! It’s a good thing. That means more lobster for you to eat!


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What is this thing that looks like a hard honeycomb? It is a clump of shells of the Worm Snail. But an animal cannot be a worm and a snail at the same time. The animals that made this shell cluster are gastropod mollusks, or snails. “Gastro” means stomach and “pod” means foot…stomach on the foot. Mollusk comes from the French word “mollusque.” It means an animal that makes a shell out of calcium carbonate. When we think of a snail, usually, we think of the little animal with a curled shell. The shell of the Worm Snail is kind of long and wiggly, so it makes people think of a worm. This big chunk of shells broke off of a rock. When the Worm Snails are living on the rock, they ooze out a sticky “net” of mucus. Plankton stick to the net. The Worm Snail brings in the net and eats anything that stuck to it. Hooray for the Worm Snail, which is hard at work purifying our ocean water!


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A Hermit Crab in a Different Shell

Remember the Blue Banded Hermit Crab that was using a Black Turban Snail shell for protection? Here is different crab, and it has found the empty shell of a Poulson’s Rock Shell Snail. I just wanted you to see how different the shells can be in a tide pool. When it was alive, the Poulson’s Rock Shell Snail would eat barnacles and mussels. How could it get through their hard shells? The snail would ooze out an acid and then scrape the shells with its radula until it made a hole. Then it would scrape out the soft animal with its radula. The Poulson’s Rock Shell Snail was probably eaten by a crab. Do you see the three small limpets? They are not Owl Limpets. They are called Mask Limpets. They are much smaller than Owl Limpets and they are marked differently. We see that, in tide pools, there are many creatures in the same class, but they may look different from each other. Just as you are in the same class with your friends, you look different than they do.


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Our State Fish: The Garibaldi

This beautiful orange fish is the state fish of California, the Garibaldi. This picture was taken right off the coast of Catalina Island. As you can see, it lives around rocks near the Kelp “forest.” The Garibaldi can grow to be about a foot long. The interesting thing about this fish is that the male makes the “nest.” He chooses an area on a rock where the eggs can be laid. A female passes by and decides, “Hmmmm, he did a good job. He made a nice nest area.” She lays the eggs and leaves! The male stays and protects the eggs from predators. He will even approach human divers if he thinks the eggs are in danger. He hangs around for a few weeks and then the eggs hatch. The babies grow and become red with blue spots. For a while, the numbers of Garibaldi were decreasing. Can you think why? They were stolen! Humans would trap the fish, hide them in containers, and sell them back to people who wanted Garibaldi in their salt water aquariums. Now, the fish are protected by law. People have to pay big fines if they steal Garibaldi from the ocean. If you ever get a chance to go to Catalina Island, do it. When your boat docks in the harbor, you will look down and see orange flashes just below the surface of the water. These orange blurs are the Garibaldi darting around in their territory. There is an orange fish about every 20 feet along the coast, welcoming you to the Intertidal Zone of Catalina Island.


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Garbage and the Ocean

Oh my gosh, don’t get me started about garbage. Actually, this plastic container could have wound up here in a number of ways. Someone may have tossed it off a boat and it may have floated back to shore. Or, someone walking through the tide pools carelessly tossed it. Or, it may have come from YOUR GUTTER? You may be thinking that it is impossible that a piece of trash at the beach came from your street gutter. Let me explain. Any oil or antifreeze liquid or transmission fluid or car wash detergent on your driveway winds up in the ocean. Any cardboard boxes or glass bottles or plastic wrappers that sit in your street gutter wind up in the ocean. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Your street gutter is like a playground slide. Toxic liquids and garbage flow down the gutter into holes that lead to huge pipes under your street. Those huge pipes go all the way to the ocean. ANYTHING in the pipes winds up getting poured out into YOUR OCEAN! You might be saying, “OOOOOOOH, YUCK!” You are right to be saying, “OOOOOOH, YUCK!” Some of you may have gone to the beach to swim and play. Do you want to play in an ocean filled with oil? Do you want to swim and get hit in the head with a candy container? Maybe you have not been to the beach. But, do you enjoy eating crab, lobster, fish, oysters, mussels, or shrimp. All of these things that you eat have come from the ocean. Do you want the things you eat to come from an ocean filled with transmission fluid and plastic grocery bags? There are things you can do to help keep the ocean clean. Tell the adults that you live with and your friends to put all garbage in garbage cans. Tell the adults that you live with and your friends to wash cars at a self service car wash. Tell the adults you live with and your friends to make sure their cars do not leak oil, transmission fluid, or antifreeze. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND HELP KEEP YOUR EARTH CLEAN AND HEALTHY!!


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The Octopus

Well, well, well, what do we have here? It is a small 4” wide Two-Spot Octopus. Unfortunately for the creature, it is dead. But this is fortunate for the Opal Eye fish which are nibbling away at the arms. Octopus comes from the Greek word which means eight (octo) feet (podes). This animal has eight tentacles or thin and flexible arms. These tentacles allow the animal to grab its prey. Also, on these arms, there are many little suction cups which help the Two-Spot Octopus cling onto rocks and crevices. Below the eyes, and underneath, it has a beak that looks very similar to that of a parrot. This beak allows the octopus to bite and chew its food. The Two-Spot Octopus has really good vision. The crazy thing about the octopus is that you would think it has a huge brain in that head. Well, actually, there is a small brain near its eyes. The “head” is more like a belly. It holds the liver, stomach, and other organs that we have inside the central part of our bodies. The octopus has a special funnel that shoots out water. When the octopus forces water out of the funnel in one direction, it goes in the opposite direction…fast! The Two-Spot Octopus also has a couple of other features that help it escape from predators like the eel and the shark. First of all, it has an ink sac full of black ink. If it is frightened, it can squirt out this ink which will create a confusing dark cloud in the water. Also, it can CHANGE COLOR and TEXTURE so that it matches its surroundings. Cool! If you could change your color and texture so that you would not be discovered, where would you go and what would you do?


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Seagulls

There was a little stream of fresh water spilling down a cliff and making its way
into the ocean. These birds were getting drinks from it. Probably the most common birds you will see in the Intertidal Zone are the gulls. In this picture, there are two different kinds of gulls. The bird closest to us is the Herring Gull. It has pink legs, a white head and chest, gray back, and a dark brown and white tail. See the red spot on the beak? When Herring Gull babies are hungry, they peck-peck-peck at the red spot. Then the parents know to feed the chicks. The gull in the middle is a Heermann’s Gull. It has a red beak and black legs. It changes color gradually from white to gray to dark grayish brown. The dark gray bird in the back is a young or juvenile Heermann’s Gull. Gulls will eat just about anything they can get into their beaks. They are omnivores. Do you remember what that means? Yes, they will eat things like berries, but also animals. They make nests out of sea grass and lay two or three eggs. Do they have skinny toes or webbed feet like a duck? Yes, webbed feet help them paddle through the water and stay on top of the sand. Sailors on the ocean know they are nearing land when they start to spot gulls flying in the air.


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The Spiny Chiton

What a strange animal this is. The Spiny Chiton clings to rocks in the tide pools. Some scientists think this species has been on the Earth for about 500 million years! See the eight plates on its back? The plates allow its body to curve so its “foot” can create a suction cup, just like the limpet. Even though chitons can really stick to the rocks, sometimes they fall off. When they fall off of the rock, they can form into a ball, like a pill bug. This protects them. Do you know what
a rasp tool is? It is a long, straight tool that has hundreds of little “teeth” that will shave down wood or metal. In its mouth, the Spiny Chiton has a rasp-like band called a radula. The Spiny Chiton rubs its radula against the algae on the rocks. The algae gets scraped off and goes into the mouth of the Spiny Chiton. When they can get pried off of the rocks, Spiny Chitons are eaten by starfish, crab, fish, seagulls, and anemones. Do you see one Spiny Chiton, or two?


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Barnacles

Walking around tide pools without wearing shoes, you might say, “Ouch, ooh, ah, eeh, ouch,” if you walk on these thingies. These thingies are called Barnacles. They look like little miniature rock volcanoes. The plates that make up the “volcano” protect the animal inside. Yes, there is a living animal inside! The Barnacle animal rests on its back with its six feathery legs facing up into the water. Just like the California Mussels, Barnacles are hard at work purifying the ocean water. The feathery legs bring plankton, along with pieces of dead animals and plants, into the mouth of the barnacle. There are a few different kinds or species of barnacles here. The different barnacles lay eggs. Larvae come out of the eggs and swim around in the water. Then the larvae attach themselves onto something and grow the protective “volcano” plates. Sometimes, they will attach themselves onto a whale or a ship! When scientists are trying to identify whales that they are studying, they look at the pattern of barnacles living on the whale. Just like patches of color on a dog or cat, patches of barnacles on a fluke, or tail, can help identify that particular whale.


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Erosion at the Beach

The surface of the Earth is always changing. Carving away at the Earth are the wind, and water. Wind blows against the rocks and takes off little loose particles. These loose particles along with the wind work like sand paper against the rocks, sanding them into smaller pieces. In three different forms, water changes the shape of the rocks. Ice, waves, and rain all make the rocks smaller. In colder climates, rain seeps into the cracks of rocks. The rain turns into ice and actually gets bigger. Because the ice expands, it POPS apart the rocks like a wedge. Waves pound against rocks along the coast. The force of the water removes tiny particles, and sometimes bigger chunks off of the rock. Also, the waves make the rocks tumble against each other. When they rub against each other, they get worn down over time. Rain falling from the sky also moves the rocks and takes away small bits and pieces. See the bigger rocks that have broken off of the cliff? Those are cold boulders. Then the boulders get broken down into smaller pieces called stones. Look at all of the gray and tan stones below the cliff. The stones get broken down into even smaller pieces called pebbles. Pebbles are broken down into sand. Finally, the sand gets broken down into very tiny pieces called silt. Have you ever played with clay? Clay is made of silt and water. So silt, sand, pebbles, stones, and boulders were all once part of a larger piece of rock. But over a long time, water and wind wore them down. This process is called erosion. Does your home sit on flat land, or hills, or even mountains? How do you think erosion change the landscape around your home?


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Erosion at the Beach

The surface of the Earth is always changing. Carving away at the Earth are the wind, and water. Wind blows against the rocks and takes off little loose particles. These loose particles along with the wind work like sand paper against the rocks, sanding them into smaller pieces. In three different forms, water changes the shape of the rocks. Ice, waves, and rain all make the rocks smaller. In colder climates, rain seeps into the cracks of rocks. The rain turns into ice and actually gets bigger. Because the ice expands, it POPS apart the rocks like a wedge. Waves pound against rocks along the coast. The force of the water removes tiny particles, and sometimes bigger chunks off of the rock. Also, the waves make the rocks tumble against each other. When they rub against each other, they get worn down over time. Rain falling from the sky also moves the rocks and takes away small bits and pieces. See the bigger rocks that have broken off of the cliff? Those are cold boulders. Then the boulders get broken down into smaller pieces called stones. Look at all of the gray and tan stones below the cliff. The stones get broken down into even smaller pieces called pebbles. Pebbles are broken down into sand. Finally, the sand gets broken down into very tiny pieces called silt. Have you ever played with clay? Clay is made of silt and water. So silt, sand, pebbles, stones, and boulders were all once part of a larger piece of rock. But over a long time, water and wind wore them down. This process is called erosion. Does your home sit on flat land, or hills, or even mountains? How do you think erosion change the landscape around your home?

Marbled Godwits

It’s late afternoon, and a beautiful pair of Marbled Godwits have taken the stage. These are shore birds, adapted for life near the water. Do they have tiny feet that hold onto a branch? No, they have big feet that spread out. Why? Correct, they act like snowshoes and keep the bird up on top of the sand. Does this bird have tall, skinny legs or short, fat legs? Yes, the tall skinny legs help the Marbled Godwit walk around easily without getting knocked over by the waves. Do you think its long, skinny beak is good for snapping flies or digging in sand to catch Sand Crabs? I think you’re right. The Marbled Godwit enjoys Sand Crabs and other animals that live in mud and sand. Its brown color helps keep it camouflaged from predators. The Marbled Godwit does not live here year round. It migrates. That means that it will live here for a while and then fly all the way to Montana, North and South Dakota, and Canada to have its babies! Then it will return, back to the coastal waters and estuaries of the Pacific Ocean. What would make you travel thousands of miles?


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California Mussels

California Mussels are a very common sight in the Intertidal Zone. They are attached to the rocks with “byssal threads.” These silky threads are super duper strong. They grow out of the mussel and onto the rock. These byssal threads make it possible for the California Mussel stay attached right where the waves crash. These animals are called bivalves because they have two hard shells that close tight for protection. When they want to feed, they open up slightly. This allows sea water to flow inside. Remember the Sand Crab and that it ate plankton? Well, California Mussels also eat these teeny tiny plants and animals. California Mussels are wonderful in that they make our ocean water more pure. They are called filters feeders. They filter out microscopic pieces of dead plants and animals, making the ocean water nice and clear for us. Like the Starfish and shore birds, humans find mussels to be quite tasty. Hooray for California Mussels! Not only are they edible, they help purify the ocean.


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California Sea Lion

When exploring the Intertidal Zone, you never know what you will find. Sitting on a rock was this sickly California Sea Lion. This pup appeared to be underfed and exhausted. It might have been affected by rough waters caused by a recent hurricane off the coast of Mexico. Or it may just be sick. We called the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. This wonderful organization takes care of sickly marine mammals, nurses them back to health, and releases them back into the ocean. When we called the center, they told us that they already knew about the pup and were just watching it for a while to see what it would do. California Sea Lions are mammals. They have fur, warm blood, they nurse their young, and they give birth to live babies. California Sea Lions are different than Harbor Seals. See the cute little ears flaps on this guy? Harbor Seals do not have ear flaps. Harbor Seals are fat and California Sea Lions are thinner. California Sea Lions have a longer first bone in their flipper. Harbor Seal flippers are short and stubby. This animal is losing its old hair and is growing new hair. This is called molting and it happens once a year. After this pup is well enough to go back in the water, it will eat lots of fish, squid and octopus. About ten minutes before we found this pup, we saw an adult California Sea Lion swimming around in the waves near the shore. Hopefully, the little guy will join his friends back in the water very soon.


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The Sand Crab

Ya gotta love it…the Sand Crab! What fun it is on hot summer days to dig in
the sand and find these little guys. I have seen them be as tiny as 1/8” and as big as a couple of inches. They survive very well in this environment because of their coloring and the number of offspring they produce. They are colored light grayish brown and blend in with the sand very well. A female can produce 40,000 eggs within the first year of her life! This Sand Crab was a female. I know this because I could see the mass of bright orange eggs clinging to her tummy. See the flipper like limbs with claws? After a wave has come up on the sand, the Sand Crab uses those to dig backwards into the sand. The Sand Crab ALWAYS moves backwards. Once it is burrowed safely in the sand, only its eyes and antennae stick up in the water. The antennae collect plankton, a group of teeny, tiny plants and animals that float in the water. The Sand Crab eats the plankton. In turn, the Sand Crab is eaten by shore birds and fish. If you walk on the sand in the summer, and you see dozens of V-shaped marks in the sand near the water, you are looking at Sand Crabs waiting for their next plankton meal.


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Kelp

Something has washed up onto shore. It looks like an alien or a plant from another
galaxy. This is Kelp. Kelp is a plant that grows in the ocean. It attaches itself to rocks on the bottom of coastal waters. Then it grows, and grows, and GROWS! Kelp may grow up to 2 feet…IN ONE DAY! It may grow up to be as tall as 200 feet. Have you ever been in a forest on land? A forest is where many, many tall trees all grow closely. A Kelp forest is a large underwater grove of Kelp stalks. This Kelp has washed up on shore from a storm or rough seas. When it dies, it will get caught in tide pools and provide food for animals living there. See the things that look like tiny balloons? These are called Kelp bladders. They are filled with gases and they help the Kelp float up towards the sun. The sun makes the Kelp produce oxygen for us to breathe. Take four deep breaths. Now say, “Thank you, Kelp,” because the ocean plants of the world just provided you with the oxygen in three out of four of the breaths that you took. Kelp gives us so many other products. We can eat the leaves in soups or salads or when it’s dried, like a thin cracker. An ingredient in kelp is found in toothpaste and salad dressing. After Kelp is burned, the ashes can be used to make glass and soap. We use Kelp for so many things on land, but animals of the sea use Kelp for food and shelter. If you ever get a chance to snorkel or scuba dive in a Kelp forest, do it! You will see beautiful swaying plants and fascinating animals darting in and out of the Kelp. You might even see a sea lion playing hide and seek with another sea lion!


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Opaleye

These little fish are Opaleye. An opal is a mineral or stone that can look milky blue in color. When this fish grows up, its eyes will start to look like opals. That’s why it is named the Opaleye. The fish in this picture are babies. They are only a couple of inches long. I know these are Opaleye because I can see two small white spots on thetop middle section of their bodies. Are these fish purple or yellow? No, they are grayish brown and blend in with the rocks and sand of the tide pool. Another thing that helps these tiny fish survive is that they usually swim around with a few friends. The Opaleye youngsters will shoot off in all different directions if something tries to eat them. This action confuses the predator and the youngsters escape. If nothing eats these juveniles, they will go out into the open water and grow into large adults as long as two feet. People who fish off of local piers usually catch Opaleye that are about a foot long. Opaleye make a very tasty dinner when fried.


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The Sea Urchin

Rememember the Purple Sea Urchin “test” from June 23? Now you can see these live Purple Sea Urchins. Aren’t these gorgeous? What an amazing purple color! They grow to be, on the average, about the size of a fist. Underneath, they have a bizarre mouth. It is not like the mouth of a human. It is a circle with five sharp teeth that come together in the center. These teeth are strong enough to chew out a hole in the rock (see bottom center of photo). The Purple Sea Urchin slowly crawls down into the hole and remains there. With its spines facing up and most of its body in a hole, it is well protected from predators. They also attach themselves to Kelp. Kelp is the large brown seaweed that floats in coastal waters. We know that animals can compete for food, water, and a place to live. Well, tribal people in this area ate Purple Sea Urchins and Kelp for thousands of years. When the numbers of tribal people became smaller, fewer sea urchins were eaten. Also, companies began to farm and export Kelp. Kelp can be made into vitamin pills, salads, and dried for food. The number of Purple Sea Urchins grew and grew. Kelp farmers thought of the spiny creatures as pests. People would just smash the urchins with mallets under water! But then, people began to notice the worldwide demand was growing for Purple Sea Urchin eggs (called roe or uni). Lots and lots of money could be made by selling these eggs as a delicacy. So instead of breaking the Purple Sea Urchins to bits, humans began harvesting them again. Nowadays, if you go into a fancy restaurant and you order a small serving of Purple Sea Urchin eggs, you will have to pay about $6.00 for this “cup of gold.”


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Sedimentary Rocks

Look at these crazy layers of rocks. How were they formed? If we were standing here thousands of years ago, we would be on the ocean floor. We would be swimming with the sharks and the fish and the turtles. That’s right, the level of the ocean has gone up and down over millions of years. This area used to be completely under water. Over time, minerals and dead plants would float to the bottom of the ocean. This layer of stuff on the ocean floor is called sediment. When you make a cake, you put icing on top of a layer of cake, and then more icing, and then more cake. Well, these layers of sediment would lay on top of another, just like the layers of a cake.
Slowly, over millions of years, the weight and pressure would change the sediment into layers of rock. Sediment + time + pressure = sedimentary rock. So, these cliffs are made of sedimentary rock. They are at an angle and squished like a rainbow because other incredible forces of the Earth pushed them up and together. The cliff is exposed because wind and rain have eroded through the rock over time. These cliffs are a reminder that the Earth is always changing, sometimes quickly and sometimes very slowly.


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The Owl Limpet

The oval object in the picture is not part of the rock. This is an animal. It is the Owl Limpet. The Owl Limpet has a very hard shell protecting it from predators. Underneath, it has a suction cup-like pad of tissue called the foot. The Owl Limpet will tighten up this foot when a predator tries to pry it off of the rocks. The suction created is so great that the predator cannot pull up the limpet. A female limpet is very territorial. This means that she wants total control over her little special area on the rock. She will scoot other creatures away so that her little “farm” will grow enough algae for her to eat. Do you see three other smaller Rough Limpets? It seems that the two riding piggy back are eating algae that has grown on the Owl Limpet’s shell. For thousands of years, tribal people here would eat Owl Limpets. First, the people had to pry the limpets off of the rocks with a sharp tool and remove them from the shell. Limpets are incredibly tough to chew because of the tissue making up the foot. So tribal people would lay the limpets out on a hard flat surface and pound them with a special tool until the steaks were tender. Finally, the Owl Limpets would be fried or used in soups. MILLIONS of people moved to southern California in the last hundred years and they ate way too many limpets. So now limpets, and many other edible ocean animals, are now protected by law in many places along the coast.


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The Striped Shore Crab

When I saw these crabs, I thought that they were fighting. Then I realized that the crab on the right was dead. The crab on the left dragged the dead crab across the rocks and then down to a crevice. It settled in and began snacking on its incredible find, a crab dinner. These are Striped Shore Crabs. They are called scavengers because one of their favorite things to eat is dead animals that float around the tide pools. Icky, but true. Once again, it’s a good thing they do so that there
aren’t a bunch of dead crabs and dead fish floating around stinking up the place. Striped Shore Crabs also eat algae, limpets, and snails. For protection, they have exoskeletons, just like the Crayfish. They wedge their backs into cracks. This leaves the claws out in front of the crabs so that they can grab food floating by or they can defend themselves. The Striped Shore Crab can be purplish or greenish in color with red claws. Because it did not get eaten by a seagull when it was young, it reached a width of about 4 inches. Can you think of an animal that enjoys eating
crabs? Is it you? Have you ever eaten crab cakes, or ceviche, or crab legs? Mmm, good!


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The Wooly Sculpin

I didn’t see this fish at first. Then the fish started swimming. The Wooly Sculpin fish survives in tide pools because it is so well camouflaged. Notice that this fish is not purple or red. Its coloring, scale patterns, and texture match the rocks, bits of shell, and algae upon which it rests. This fish needs to hide because it is eaten by many, many species of larger fish. The Wooly Sculpin grows to just a few
inches long. Those feathery fins on each side hold it in place so it looks like a piece of rock. It sits and waits until a small worm or snail comes by, then it bursts forward and swallows the prey. Don’t try to catch a Wooly Sculpin with your bare hand. Do you see why? Can you see the tiny white spines sticking out from its body? Yowzah! Those would poke your little fingers! Best to just look at them from a distance.


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The Sea Hare

Aha! It’s a California Sea Hare. The word “hare” is another name for rabbit. This animal has those “rabbit ears” on top of its head, so it is named the California Sea Hare. The front pair of “rabbit ears” are called oral tentacles, or mouth feelers. They help the creature feel its way around the tide pool. The “rabbit ears” sticking straight up are called rhinophores. “Rhino” is Greek for nose and “phore” is Greek for carrier. These rhinophores sense smells in the sea water. There are tiny little eyes on the head, but they can only see the difference between dark and light. Like a giant snail without a shell, the California Sea Hare slowly creeps along the rocks and sand until it finds algae to eat. Sea Hares can be brown, or green, or reddish purple. The color that they become usually depends on the color of the algae that they are eating. Maybe this Sea Hare has been eating a little red algae and a little brown algae. It looks very healthy and measures about 7” long by 5” wide. It doesn’t have that many predators. Predators are mostly interested in eating the eggs that the Sea Hare lays in clumps or masses. If a California Sea Hare is startled by a predator, it can squirt out ink that is the same color as its body. How would this help the Sea Hare escape?


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The Sea Anemone

Would you believe this is not a plant? It is an animal! This creature, the Green Sea Anemone(ah-nem-oh-nee), feeds on tiny fish and other animals that accidentally cross its path. As you can see, it has dozens of wiggly tentacles or arms. On each arm, there are microscopic structures. These tiny structures are like hairs. If the hairs on the tentacles are touched by a passing fish, they will trigger a bunch of mini “harpoons” to stick into the fish. The mini “harpoons” also have a poison, which shoots into the fish. So the fish gets caught and then stunned by the poison. Almost instantly, the tentacles all close in on the fish. The fish is then put into the mouth, the round thing in the middle. And, gulp, down the hatch goes the fish to be digested. These anemones are fixed to rocks. You can see many of these in the tide pools off of Orange County. In general, they are not harmful to humans. Some people feel a little tingle on their finger if they touch one accidentally. So avoid touching a sea anemone with any part of your body.

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The Blue Banded Hermit Crab

Wait a minute, that’s not a snail. It is the snail’s shell, but the snail died. After the snail died, it decomposed and left behind an empty shell. Then this creature, the Blue Banded Hermit Crab, climbed into the shell. Now it uses the shell for protection. Just like the snail, it can retract into the shell and keep its
claws at the entrance. The Blue Banded Hermit Crab starts out as an egg. Next, it changes into different larval stages and swam around in the water. Finally, it becomes a tiny hermit crab and it finds a tiny empty shell in which to live on the rocks. As it grows, it will shed its exoskeleton, just like the Crayfish. Also,
as it grows, it will have to find larger and larger empty shells in which to live. Sometimes two crabs will fight with each other if they both want the same shell. Like the Striped Shore Crab, it will eat algae and dead animals. It looks like it is about to make a snack of that beautiful piece of red algae. By the way, YOU probably have eaten something made from this species of red algae. That is correct! This red algae species is made into a powder called agar. Agar gets added to recipes for ice cream, jelly, the filling in doughnuts, and puddings. So you and this hermit crab both enjoy red algae, but in very different ways.

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The Black Turban Snail

Remember the snail that we found on land? This creature is in the same family, but
it survives in the salty water of the tide pool. The Black Turban Snail crawls around in search of algae, tiny little plants which grow on the rocks. It will also eat seaweed, called kelp, and diatoms, which are microscopic algae. They have a couple of ways to escape predators. They can “smell” the odor of a predator and then scoot off in the opposite direction. What else helps the snail survive? The shell, of course. The snail can retract into its extremely hard shell. This shell is different than a land snail’s, which is quite fragile. But, like the land snail, these guys are edible. Not only do humans find them tasty, but so do sea otters. Starfish on the sea floor will eat the snails in the winter as the snails fall off of the kelp during rough storms and sink to the bottom. Black Turban Snails grow to be about the size of a quarter. They live quite long for something of this size. Would you believe this snail might be 25 years old?!

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Tidepools Up Close and Personal

What is that strange looking round thing in the upper part of the picture? It is
the shell or “test” of a creature called a Purple Sea Urchin. Have you ever seen a “Koosh Ball?” Well, Purple Sea Urchins look like purple Koosh Balls when they are alive. They are covered with purple spines. Look closely in the photo and you can still see some purple spines laying on top of the broken shells. These spines SLOWLY move the urchin along the rocks. The spines help the animal grip onto the rough surfaces of the tide pool so that it can eat algae, seaweed, and small bits of deceased sea creatures. The spines help protect the urchin from predators. At one time, the “test” of this urchin was filled with goopy stuff, like intestines and eggs (if it was a female). The eggs of the urchin are called roe in English and uni (ooh-nee) in Japanese. The roe or uni is found in gourmet recipes and in sushi. The Purple Sea Urchin is also a favorite snack for large sea birds, Sea Otters, Starfish, and the Wolf Eel. So maybe a Starfish ate most of the guts of this Purple Sea Urchin. Then, the little leftover pieces were consumed by snails, fish, and our friend the Striped Shore Crab. Nothing goes to waste. Only the test remains. Eventually the test will get broken down into smaller and smaller pieces and become sand. Look at all the beautiful colors in this photo. Each one of these tiny bits of color was either a rock or the shell of a living creature. See the big blue shell of the California Mussel? Can you see a couple more items that look like they might have been the shells of other animals?

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A New Habitat

Now we will move to a new ecosystem, the Intertidal Zone. The gravity of the moon and the sun creates tides. Tides are the slight rising and lowering of the water level. A low tide occurred at 3:59 this morning when the water was actually -1.7 feet below sea level. High tide will occur at 9:21 tonight when water the will be 7.2 feet ABOVE sea level. That’s almost a 9 foot difference in water level. So plants and animals that live in tide pools must be able to survive being submerged under salt water part of the day and then being exposed to air the rest of the day.

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Animal Evidence in the Sand

I mentioned HUGE white bird poop splats in my last entry. Although these seem unpleasant to us, they are good signs because it means that animals have been there.
We call this “animal evidence,” or proof that an animal has passed through an area. We know an ecosystem is healthy if there are many different kinds of animals, and lots of those different animals. Look at the picture above and then try to guess, from the animal evidence, what animals traveled across the sand. If you said humans, you must have seen the shoe prints and the bicycle tire tracks. What do you think made the wiggly line going up through the center of the photo? If you said, “A SNAKE,” you are correct! The snake left behind a track about 2” wide. Was it a rattlesnake? I have seen a few rattlesnakes on trails. I just walk around them carefully. What animal evidence can you find in your neighborhood?

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The Carp

I was hiking near a dam which was releasing fresh water into a creek. I heard a big CA-CHUNK sound! I looked down and saw about five carp lazily swirling around in the shallow water. Although the fish in the picture looks dead, it was very much alive. It was as long as your arm! It appeared to be a Carp fish. They are in the same family as Japanese Koi fish. One of these fish lunged quickly above the surface with its mouth open and sucked in a small fish or insect. When the water is warm, they can be found at the surface. In colder months, they can be found at the bottom of ponds and creeks scavenging plants, worms, and even dead fish. Icky oooh, I know, but
thank goodness they do eat dead fish because otherwise there would be rotten stinking fish in the water here. Something else that I saw on the rocks nearby were HUGE white bird poop splats. Icky oooh again, but it’s a good sign. It means that a large hawk or even a Golden Eagle has made its home here. And it probably has its eye on the carp.

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The Dragonfly

Here at the fresh water ecosystem, we find a Flame Skimmer Dragonfly. What a pretty
sight it is at this time of year. The female needs to live near the fresh water because she lays her eggs in ponds. The eggs hatch and become naiads (ny-ads) or nymphs. Naiads will eat mosquito and fly larvae (hooray!) and other insect larvae found in the water. When the naiad gets mature enough, which sometimes takes years, it will crawl out of the water and onto a vertical stem, like the one seen here.
The naiad begins to molt, or shed its outer drying skin. Out pops the dragonfly. Dragonflies eat mosquitoes and flies (hooray!) and other small flying insects. In turn, dragonflies are eaten by birds, some mammals, and frogs. This Flame Skimmer is reddish orange, but dragonflies come in all different colors. In fact, I saw a beautiful blue dragonfly today also, but it flew away before I could get a picture of it.

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The Yellowthroat

I spotted a Common Yellowthroat. It is one of the Warbler type birds. It eats insects, it is fairly tiny, and it likes to sing. Yellowthroats fly around pretty low to the ground to snap up small insects. They usually try to stay hidden. This male, however, is making himself noticeable and singing to females. When the male and female become a pair, they will make a nest and the female will lay eggs. She will keep the eggs warm and he will bring her food. After the babies are born, they will be fed by the mother and father. Yellowthroats like to hang out near wetland areas with cattail plants. For the past couple of centuries, these wetland
areas have been filled in with dirt and sand by man in order to make buildings on them. This took habitat away from animals and plants that lived there. Society is beginning to recognize the importance of wetlands. People now fight to keep wetlands preserved for little friends like the Common Yellowthroat.

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