plant/animal reference) to get a bigger pictureProfiling | Langley Seawall Monitoring Team photo 2010 | Whale feeding pits on beach |
Ghost shrimp with copepods |
The 2010 Whidbey Island beach monitoring season hit the starting gate on April 29th with first time team captain Vickie Chapman heading up the Langley Seawall team. Charlie Seablom and four brand new Class of 2010 Beach Watchers joined the expedition and saw a real variety of species. As small boulders were tipped up, flatworms, polychaetes, and Oregon shore crabs were revealed. Moving along into the broad stretch of sandy beach, the team found ghost shrimp with egg masses and the tiny red copepod Clausidium vancouverence tucked beneath the carapace. Numerous gray whale feeding pits were evidence that the big baleen cetaceans are also aware of the presence of ghost shrimp.
Phyllaplysia | What's this? | Aglaja ocelligera |
Checking out Pycnopodia |
Further out, the -2.4 tide rolled back to expose patches of eelgrass with the rich variety of fauna that it supports. A close look revealed caprellid amphipods, isopods of the genus Idotea, eelgrass sea slugs (Phyllaplysia taylori) and the nudibranch relative Aglaja diomedea, and three sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides).