Camano Is State Park - July 30 & 31, 2008

Parastichopus

BW at low tide by ramp CISP

Egg mass on washcloth seaweed

Searching in thick seaweed

eggs found on seaweed

Detailed inspections

Three profile lines were run, in this second year of monitoring at Camano Island State Park.

Profile #1, located 150 feet north of the northern edge of the boat ramp was performed on July 31st, while the other two profiles were run a day earlier. Profile #2, occurred 15 feet north of the northern edge of the boat ramp and Profile #3 was performed 15 feet from the southern edge of the boat ramp. Nine Beach Watchers and one guest monitored Profile #1 out to 142 feet, to the -2.9 foot low tide mark. Profiles #2 and #3 went out 124.5 and 110 feet, respectively, to the -2.7 foot low tide mark. Profiles #2 had eight Beach Watchers while Profile #3 had six Beach Watchers and one guest. John C. led all three monitoring efforts. Handheld PCs were employed to supplement hard copy data recording.

As seen in 2007, species found within Profile #1 were very diverse including anemone, arachnid, barnacles, bryozoan, clams, crabs, isopods, limpets, mussels, nudibranch, polychete, shrimp, snails, green and red seaweed and seagrass. However, this year, species density at the zero foot tide level for barnacles was a seventh of what was observed in 2007. There were a few new species detected this year, including the mussel,

Mytilus californianus

Mytilus californious, and two anemones,

Metridium spp.

Metridium senile and

Haliplanella lineata

Hailplanella lineate. The seastar, Evasterias troschelii, identified in 2007 was not seen this year. Clams found were too small to identify, while in 2007 both the heart cockle, Clinocardium sp., and the polluted macoma, Macoma inquinata, were found.

More diverse species were found in Profile 2, including the addition of chitons, Tonicella lineate, arachnids, mussels, polychete, the sea star, Pisaster ochracaus, and filamentous green and brown seaweed.

Tonicella lineata

Tonicella lineate, the lined chiton, is quite beautiful with zigzag lines on its plates. Its predators include the purple sea star

Pisaster ochraceus2

(Pisaster ochraceus), the six-rayed sea star ( Leptasterias sp.), and the Northern clingfish ( Gobiesox maeandricus ).

Profile 3 was also more diverse this year with the addition of isopods, Idotea wosnesenskii, snails, Nucella canaliculata, nudibranchs, Triopha catalinae, polychates, Nereidae, the sea cucumber, Parastichopus californicus, nemerteans, Tubulanus polymorplus, brown and red filamentous seaweed and seagrass, Zostera marina. The sea cucumber,

Parastichopus

Parastichopus californicus, is the largest sea cucumber on the West Coast of North America. This echinoderm can grow to a length of 20 inches. It feeds on detritus and small organisms which stick to its bushy tentacles. The tentacles are pulled into the mouth one at a time so the nutrients can be licked off and channeled into the digestive tract. The California sea cucumber is preyed upon by sea otters, fish, and several species of sea stars.

Thank you to Cathy M. for gathering this monitoring data summary and to Mary Jo A. and Bill B. for their photos. This unit was put together by Judi McD for the website.