plant/animal reference) to get a bigger pictureWinged 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!