plant/animal reference) to get a bigger picture
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”.