plant/animal reference) to get a bigger picture
Iverson upper beach |
Iverson Lookout |
Iverson monitoring team |
The intertidal bio-monitoring of Iverson Beach was held on a Saturday, June 6, 2009, in conjunction with The Wonders of Iverson program on Camano Island, a Beach Watcher event, so that interested folks who came to explore the estuary area at Iverson Beach could also join Beach Watchers and see what monitoring was all about. It was a beautiful, partly sunny day and 12 Beach Watchers participated.
Mussels abound |
Seaweed and mud! |
purple varnish clam shell |
This beach is located on the most northerly shore of Port Susan Bay where there is little movement of water and the tide goes out a long way because of the gentle slope. From the starting point we went out 550 feet to a low tide of -1.7 ft. We did not find many new creatures; it is predominantly sand, but at about -0. we found a broad swath of land (50 feet deep and several hundred feet long) covered with small rock and loads of mussels, Mytilus trossulus. Beth H., captain of this beach, looked up the records for last year and green seaweed was noted in this area, but no mussels. We thought this was strange and will hope to look at it during the year. We also found one Purple varnish clam, Nuttallia obscurata, which is an invasive species and which although no longer alive worried our Beach Watcher monitoring leader, Pete D., since its presence indicates their possible arrival to this area. Thanks to captains Donna W. and Beth H. for hosting this beach and to Bill B. and Judi McD. for pictures.
