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.

Utsalady Beach - July 29, 2008

Utsalady monitoring grouup 2008

Early on a brisk and very wet July 29 morning, 7:00 am, intertidal monitoring was performed for Utsalady Beach by ten Beach Watchers led by Pam C. The profile line extending to137 feet was surveyed to the -2.2 foot tide level, along with nine quadrats laid out for inspection.

Sea life found in abundance included barnacles, clams, crabs, mussels, snails and red and green seaweed. Varieties of species found were mostly consistent with previous years including both the barnacles, Balanus crenatus and glandula, the crabs, Hemigrapsus oregonensis and nudus, and Pagurus, and the clams Clinocardium and Saxidomus gigantean. Missing from finds found pretty consistently in the last couple of years were the ascidian, Corella willmeriana, sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, and to the disappointment of the monitors no anemones were found this year. Anemones found in the recent past have included the Metidium senile and Anthopleura elegantissima.

The chiton, Mopalia,

Mopalia3

was found again this year. The Mopalias are distinctive in having hairs or bristles sprouting from their girdles. Chitons from this genus are also unusual because while most chitons are strictly herbivores, the Mopalias consume animal materials including sponges, bryozoans, and hydroids in addition to algae.
Thanks to Cathy M. for this summary and Mary Jo for her excellent picture of the chiton, Mopalia.

Footprint Rock - July 5, 2008

Rockweed isopod

Team photo

Black clawed crab

Sea lettuce

Haliclystus2

Pisaster ochraceus

Team captain Charlie Seablom led a crew of three on the mile long trek to Footprint Rock on July 5th. This is a rocky beach on the west side of Whidbey Island. Charlie reports that the weather was fine for monitoring and everything went great. In fact, this was the first beach Murray Aston had monitored when it wasn't raining! When they finally arrived at the monitoring site, they found hundreds of rockweed isopods (Idotea wosnesenskii) among the algae and Libby Hayward spotted a stalked jelly (Haliclystus sp.) clinging to seaweed in a small tidepool. A black clawed crab (Lophopanopeus bellus) was also seen. Charlie reports that they found nothing but sand in the quadrats at the 0 and -1 foot levels and only a little sea lettuce (Ulva) and one Lacuna snail in those at +1 foot. As the team hiked back, they took time to explore among the large boulders along the way and found several large purple sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus) and multiple large colonies of feather duster worms (Eudistylia vancouveri).

Ledgewood Beach

Ledgewood Beach team photo 2008

Dendronitus iris

It was a dedicated veteran team of four that spent the 4th of July monitoring at Ledgewood Beach. Jan Holmes is team captain for Ledgewood and she reports that the outstanding find of the day was that of a 5 inch nudibranch, later identified as Dendronitis iris that had apparently washed up on the beach. Unfortunately the nudibranch did not appear to be alive. This unusual species is commonly called the giant nudibranch, its name derived from the fact that its size ranges to 12 inches in length. It feeds on tube dwelling anemones. When the team finally wrapped up their data collecting activities, they adjourned to enjoy 4th of July festivities.

North Hastie Lake

Winged kelp

Green rope

Neorhodomela3

Sea Lemon with egg ribbon

Pisaster ochraceus

Pugettia producta

North Hastie Lake team photo 2008

North Hastie Lake's ten member monitoring team with Sue Howard at the helm was also at work on July 3rd. This valiant team persistently stuck it out in spite of monsoon-like conditions. North Hastie Lake is a mostly rocky beach located on the west side of Whidbey Island just north of the Coupeville area. The beach there has a diverse and fascinating community of invertebrates and seaweeds. It was the variety of algae that struck Jim Sommers. He and Charlie Seablom worked the quadrats and identified 12 species within those intensively studied sections including winged kelp (Alaria marginata), black pine (Neorhodomela larix), and green rope (Acrosiphonia). Charlie found and snapped a photo of a sea lemon (Archidoris montereyensis) extruding its egg ribbon. Along the profile line, Monem Mahmoud Abdel enjoyed seeing the large purple sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus) and Sue Howard got a close look at kelp crabs (Pugettia producta). Mother Nature seemed to have it out for Ingri Johnson; not only was the pelting rain trying to dampen her day, but a clam squirt also soaked her pants leg!

Double Bluff/Wahl Farm

Onchidella borealis

Looking under a rock

Rough piddock

Amphiodia

Opalescent nudibranch

Team captain Jan Holmes and the Double Bluff/Wahl Farm team put up with intermittent rain showers to get profile and species data on July 3rd but when more ominous looking dark clouds appeared and thunderclaps began to rumble, the team headed for their cars, deciding quadrat observations could wait until another day. Their retreat was well timed because just as they reached the parking area, the clouds opened up with torrential rain. The slightly soggy but otherwise gung ho team had a grand time while they were on the beach finding an incredibly diverse group of organisms including caprellid amphipods, opalescent and barnacle eating nudibranchs and their little sea slug relatives commonly known as leather limpets (Onchidella borealis). In addition they identified rough piddocks (Zirphaea pilsbryi), four species of bryozoans, and a long-rayed brittle star Amphiodia sp.). June Davis brought along her 4-year-old granddaughter who had a great time making new friends and learning about the beach critters. Finn Gatewood pulled double duty that morning, starting out collecting data for a pigeon guillemot survey along the Wahl Farm beach bluff and then joining the monitoring team after finishing her bird survey.