Join Island County Beach Watchers as they explore and survey the rich intertidal zone.

hint: click on any thumbnail, (or plant/animal reference) to get a bigger picture

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

North Hastie Lake

Chthamalus dalli

North Hastie Lake team photo 2010

Anthopleura artemisia

Pisaster ochraceus

Haliclona

Black oystercatcher

Red coralline algae

Costaria costata




Sue Howard put together a team of ten to work at North Hastie Lake on June 14th. In past years, there has been a large pool of water in the mid-intertidal area on this beach. The water drains out as the team works its way down the upper beach and is dry by the time they reach that area. This year, the drainage path had accumulated so much sand, the drainage was blocked and the pool of water remained. Because of this about a quarter of the profile line and the +1 foot quadrats were under up to a foot of water. The team worked their way through the water and did their best under challenging conditions. They still made some good finds including the BB sized little brown barnacle Cthamalus dalli, moonglow anemones, and three species of encrusting sponge (breadcrumb, purple, and red). Other highlights from the day were an aggregating anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima) that appeared to be in the process of dividing, several decorator crabs, a deer seen wandering down the beach, and a small flock of oystercatchers that winged their way by. Quite a variety of seaweeds were seen including red coralline algae, Alaria marginata, and Costaria costata.

Monday, June 14, 2010

West Sunset

Pisaster ochraceus

West Sunset Beach team photo 2010

Archidoris montereyensis





Here is team captain Charlie Seablom's report from West Sunset Beach: It was a good day to be on the beach. The weather was nice and the second lowest tide of the year – what more could a Beach Watcher ask for? The upper part of the beach has few organisms living there. In the first 110+ feet we saw nothing but amphipods, barnacles, and a couple of limpets. When we got to the big rock it got interesting. It has three kinds of barnacles, tubeworms, ribbon worms, mussels, limpets and more. Farther down the number of species dropped off, but there were a few boulders exposed that had enough stuff to keep us interested. Because of the good weather there were a lot of walkers on the beach. Some of them stopped to ask us what we were doing. One even wanted to get a team photo for herself. The best part was the walk back through the peat beds. Lots of clams had their necks exposed. A sea lemon and a purple Pisaster were found. Eventually we ended up at the starting point and then to home.

Harrington Lagoon

Looking through the substrate

Harrington Lagoon team photo 2010

Bivalve dig


Recording the data

Sea stars on moon snail egg cases

Moon snail




A team of five hit the beach at Harrington Lagoon on June 14th under the leadership of Liz and Pete Berg. With the tide dropping to the -3.4 foot level, the profile line extended out 340 feet. The surface substrate of this east Whidbey beach is composed primarily of gravel and shell debris. The team found three live moon snails and dozens of their egg collars, some of which had mottled sea stars adhering to their surface. It is uncertain whether the sea stars were feeding on the egg collars or simply wanting something to hold onto. One of the live moon snails had an unlucky littleneck clam engulfed in its massive mantle; a close look revealed the predatory snail was in the process of drilling into the clam.

Pectinaria tube

Pectinaria sp.



Another great find was that of Pectinaria, the ice cream cone worm. This small tube worm builds a unique cone shaped tube with sand grains perfectly butted up against one another. Looking in the end of the tube reveals what appear to be metallic gold eyelashes. Another polychaete, Hemipodis put on quite a show by repeatedly shooting out its large proboscis. The team found so many little Hemigrapsus shore crabs that Pete dubbed beach “crab alley”.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Rolling Hills

Rolling Hills team photo 2010

Nassarius sp.

Green sea urchin




Charlie Seablom had a team of four working on the windy beach at Rolling Hills on June 13. They found four live moon snails (Euspira lewisii) by watching for bulging areas in the substrate, pushed up by the moon snail creeping along just under the surface. The group also found flatworms, purple ribbon worms, several green sea urchins and a small scavenging snail of the genus Nassarius. Charlie reports that his small but experienced team worked efficiently and work went quickly along the 260 foot profile line.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Footprint Rock

Footprint Rock team photo 2010

Gobiesox meandricus





Charlie Seablom and his Footprint Rock team had a gorgeous sunny day with a million dollar view of the Olympics to enjoy as they hiked along the beach to their monitoring site on June 12th. They did some exploring along the way and caught sight of a bald eagle perched in a tree high on the bluff. Charlie reports that the upper part of the profile line went quickly but slippery Ulva covered rocks slowed things down a bit as they approached the water line. The day's highlights included finding a sea lemon, a northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus), and an inch long wormlike organism thought to be a burrowing anemone. Team members also enjoyed seeing a number of polychaetes and a real variety of seaweeds.

Friday, June 11, 2010

South Lagoon Point

South Lagoon Point team photo 2010

Great Blue Heron

Look at this

Blood star

Sunflower Star

Paranemertes ingesting polychaete



June 11th was not only Jacques Cousteau’s 100th birthday, it was also our annual beach monitoring day at South Lagoon Point. Libby Hayward coordinated a team of 12 in checking out this rocky beach as the tide receded to the -2.6 foot level. The team included a special guest, a grad student interested in finding out more about monitoring procedures and getting a glimpse of Puget Sound intertidal life. The large number of boulders and erratics all along the profile line and lush eelgrass beds at lower levels support an amazing diversity of species at this beach.

Gould's Baby Chiton

Honkenya

Mossy chiton

Smithora


Team members were unanimous in choosing the discovery of a large purple ribbon worm (Paranemertes peregrina) ingesting an even larger polychaete as the most unique find of the day. They also documented four species of chitons (mossy, Gould’s baby, lined, and gumboot), four species of sea stars (mottled, sunflower, blood, and purple), and five species of anemones (aggregating, moonglow, brooding, white plumed, and Christmas). The eelgrass was veiled by a lush coating of the epiphytic red seaweed Smithora and the beach overall sported quite a variety of green, brown, and red seaweed. Backshore plants included Honkenya and sea rocket. The team worked under dim skies with on again/off again light precipitation as a nearby great blue heron searched among the shallows for small fish.
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