Coupeville Town Park Beach

..Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.. Green sea urchin Green sea urchin Green sea urchin

Coupeville Town Park Beach team photo 2010 Coupeville Town Park Beach team photo 2010

..Evasterias troschelii.. Mottled sea star Evasterias troschelii Evasterias troschelii

..Nucella lamellosa.. Frilled dogwinkle Nucella snail tied up by byssal threads Nucella snail tied up by byssal threads

..Fucus spiralis.. Fucus spiralis Fucus spiralis

..Verrucaria.. Black lichen Verrucaria (Lichen) Verrucaria (Lichen)

It was a really soggy day. In spite of conditions that had even ducks seeking shelter, avid Beach Watcher John Purcell showed up to help team captain Mary Jo Adams survey Coupeville Town Park Beach on May 28th. This beach has one huge and several less massive erratics located at different intertidal levels and it was on one of those that John spotted a patch of the purple encrusting sponge Haliclona. He also found green sea urchins, several large thatched barnacles, and two mottled sea stars (Evasterias troschelli). Bay mussels had apparently turned the tables on one predatory Nucella snail; it was seen hanging off a rock, bound up by numerous byssal threads and literally hung out to dry. The survey team also identified Fucus spiralis. The blades of this brown seaweed tend to twist as they dry and tiny tufts of hair can be seen dotting their surface. Verrucaria and other lichens were noted on rocky surfaces in the splash zone. It was a fun and interesting day in spite of the trying conditions.

Coupeville Town Park Beach - May 23, 2009

Coupeville Town Park Team photo 2009

Gaper clam

Coupeville Town Park team at work

Moonsnail

Moon snail egg collar

Ghost shrimp

Cockle

Memorial Day weekend brought more great low tides and the Coupeville Town Park Beach team took advantage of them to check out their beach on May 23rd. High points for the day included finding two moon snails and moon snail egg collars, a ghost shrimp with a parasitic isopod under the carapace, a gaper clam with a commensal crab, and lots of green sea urchins. In addition, two Columbia black tail deer and a harbor seal put in appearances. Brian Giles waded into Penn Cove to retrieve a mottled sea star so the team could check it out and Dick Newsham wielded a shovel to dig several species of bivalves and worms out of the substrate for identification. Brand new BWs Michele Johnson and Trevor Arnold took turns taking profile readings and recording data.

Coupeville Town Park

Hemigrapsus oregonensis

Clammers

Moon snail egg collar

Taking a profile reading

Recording data

Look at that!

Coupeville Town Park Beach monitoring team photo 2008

Twelve folks hiked down the trail to monitor at Coupeville Town Park Beach on June 7th; five were veteran monitors but for the rest, this was their first beach monitoring experience. It was a great day for learning and thankfully, for the first day all week, it didn't rain! The worms took center stage for this team. They saw flatworms, purple and green ribbon worms (Paranemertes perigriana and Emplectonema gracile), and polychaetes with a large Hemipodus stealing the show when it everted its club-like proboscis to the point it appeared to be turning itself inside out. John Purcell was amazed by the countless number of shore crabs (Hemigrapsus oregonensis) hiding under the rocks. Skagit County BW coordinator Adria Banks came along for the day and identified a moon snail egg collar. This was the weekend when Washington regulations allowed clamming without a shellfish license and with the very low tides, lots of folks hit the beach. There was a real crowd of clammers at this beach. Sadly, many of them were not refilling the holes where they had been digging, smothering other organisms located under the piles of excavated sand and creating dangerous holes for others to twist an ankle in.