Rosario Beach

Acrorhagi

Team 2

Anthopleura elegantissima

Dodecaceria sp.

Fucus sp.

Onchidella borealis

Archidoris montereyensis

Littorina scutulata

Lottia digitalis

Rosario Beach team photo 2008

Nine dedicated Beach Watchers showed up to work on quadrats at Rosario Beach on June 6th. This beach is located in Deception Pass State Park and its substrate consists of solid bedrock. Once again, Mother Nature challenged with rain, wind, and cold but the team persevered and got the data they needed. The group split into 3 teams, with each doing a portion of twenty-one quadrats. Team 1 with Susan Nunn and Bob Gentz noted rockweed (Fucus sp.), finger limpets (Lottia digitalis), and aggregating anemones (Anthopleura elegantissima) some of which had their acrorhagi (fighting tentacles) out and apparently ready for battle. This was the first beach Bob Gentz had monitored and he was surprised by the number of periwinkles he found. Coloration of the little herbivorous snails closely matched that of the bedrock and many were tucked away in crevices or empty barnacles making them hard to see. Charlie Seablom, Lenore Minstrell, and Ranger Rick made up Team 2 and they found white and red ribbon worms ( Amphiporus sp. and Tubulanus polymorphus), and Ranger Rick pointed out a nearby gumboot chiton on the underside of a boulder that he has been keeping an eye on during the recent low tide days. Team 3's Jan Holmes, Pattie Hutchins, and Sammye Kempbell were back in the "trough area" and report that they found a leather limpet (Onchidella borealis), a sea lemon (Archidoris montereyensis) and a big purple sea star (Pisaster ochraceus).