Cama Beach - June 3, 2008

Mopalia

Tonicella3

Tonicella2

Hemigrapsus2

Pagurus2

Two profile lines were surveyed for Cama Beach on June 3 to start off the 2008 Intertidal Monitoring Season. It was a foul day for monitoring, being very chilly with heavy rains. It was also a challenge to use the handheld PCs for supplementing hard copy data recording as we had to keep pouring off the water that was puddling on top of them. Our first Profile Cama #1 is at the north end of the seawall and our second Profile Cama #2 is at the south end of the seawall.

The south seawall end point was chosen for profile Cama #2 largely because its line projected down onto and across the beach bisects the middle of the moon snail colonies that Cama seems to have in abundance. It is also a very old primary bulkhead wall of Cama resort. On this day the weather was so rainy that it was very difficult to see the profile line projection point on the Whidbey shore opposite; at times the distant shore was not even there! Beach Watchers with glasses were struggling to see and all of us were very cold and wet.

Twelve Beach Watchers and one guest, captained by Adele G., monitored Profile 1 out a distance of 268 feet to the -3.7 foot tide level. Though a variety of species were found including amphipods, anemone, barnacles, clams, crabs, isopods, shrimp, snails, green seaweed and seagrass, diversity within these species was not as great as found in previous years. For example, this year the crabs identified only included Hemigrapsus nudus and Pagarus, while in the past crabs identified also included Cancer gracilus, Cancer productus, Cancer magister and Hemigrapsus oregonensis. Also missing from previous years were limpets, nudibranch, sand dollars, sea stars, sea urchins, jellys, chitons, and red seaweed. These missing species with the exception of the jellys were found at Profile 2 however.

Profile 2’s monitoring team of ten Beach Watchers, captained by John C., monitored out to a distance of 230 feet to the -3.7 foot tide level. Overall Profile 2 was more abundant in species diversity and quantity than in Profile 1. The Profile 2 BWs were treated to the chitons, Mopalia sp. and Tonicella sp. Tonicella the lined chiton is best described with one word: gorgeous! This is a small chiton, 2 inches or less in length. The distinguishing feature of the lined chiton is that it has zigzag lines on the plates. Colors of this species vary and may include pink, red, white, black, purple, gold, or brown. The encircling girdle is usually dark with light colored patches. Predators of lined chitons include the purple sea star ( Pisaster ochraceus ), the six-rayed sea star ( Leptasterias sp .), and the Northern clingfish ( Gobiesox maeandricus ). The Mopalia is distinctive in having hairs or bristles sprouting from their girdles. Chitons from this genus are also unusual because while most chitons are strictly herbivores, the Mopalias consume animal materials including sponges, bryozoans, and hydroids in addition to algae.

Thanks to Cathy M. for collecting this data from the 2008 monitoring records and Mary Jo Adams for her Ez-Id pictures. Our cameras remained closed for the day due to very heavy rains.