Pebble Beach - June 17, 2010

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Pebble Beach 2010
This beach has the potential to capture a Beach Watcher by having their boots sink into the sands. The beach goes out very far and it becomes a serious task to run the lines out before the tide turns. The sandy beach makes it difficult to find any sea life. This year, if one turns around 180 degrees, one sees a hillside that has had a significant slide. It is pretty amazing to see this difference.

Nearshore Nearshore

Bluff above Bluff above

Slide above Slide above

Empty Q-rat Empty Q-rat

Hardy souls Hardy souls

Pebble Beach - June 9, 2009

Shore crab with clam Shore crab with clam

Pete verifying critter Pete verifying critter

Cobbled shoreline Cobbled shoreline

A great day for doing intertidal bio-monitoring! Sunny, beautiful and a low tide of -1.7 at 12:33 PM, Beach Watchers arrived at 10:30 AM near the south end of Camano Is to one of our more unique settings, hosted by Derek W. This beach monitoring line begins immediately at the base of a high bluff area with several homes tucked in to its edge. The line going out marches through dense cobbles, to sands and cobbles, and finally to just sand. At the shore edge there is a lot of green seaweed, but this year, not very many of the expected low intertidal species. Getting to the low shore, one goes through areas of active clams, many crabs, large numbers of limpets and snails, and lines of seaweeds and mussels all intertwined.
This year, there were fewer species found among the rocks, but the barnacles were dense in some areas. And many periwinkles were found in apparent colonies of new, tiny ones; these included the Littorina scutulata and the Littorina sitkana. In 2008 we saw many sea stars, but this year we found only a few small ones and only in the last few sections we found many anemones but almost all were closed up and thus un-identifiable. A total of 32 species were found; the numbers of Barnacle-eating nudibranch (Onchidoris bilamellata) were many and their eggs coated huge areas.

Recent slide Recent slide

End of the line End of the line

Onchidoris bilamellata Onchidoris bilamellata

Onchidoris eggs Onchidoris eggs

Nudibranchs & eggs Nudibranchs & eggs

A recent hill slide occurred here and it is interesting to ponder its impact on this area. Located just north of our start line, its rock and soils should have drifted northward, away from the monitoring line. Pictures were taken to record these changes. Afterwards the group gathered at the picnic table of our host to relax and enjoy their gardens which thrive at sea level. Thanks to all who came for the monitoring and to our gracious hosts.

Pictures by J. Custer and J. McDougall and G. Pence; article by Judi

Pebble Beach - August 1, 2008

892;897
898;899

A group of twelve Beach Watchers and two guests were captained by Pete D. on Friday, August 1, starting at 9:25 am to perform intertidal monitoring at Pebble Beach. A handheld was employed to supplement hard copy data recording. A profile line to 160 feet and nine quadrats were set. Monitoring ended at 11:25 a.m. on a –2.7 foot tide. Invertebrate species types found in abundance included; crabs , snails, chiton, barnacles, clams, mussels, limpets, polychetes, anemones, isopods, and sea stars. Crabs found this year included shore, Hemigrapsus nudus, and hermit, Hemigrapus oregonensis , crabs. H. nudis, commonly called the purple shore crab has purple spots on its claws and its walking legs are hairless, while H. oregonensis the green shore crab, is very similar in appearance to H. nudis, except it has no spots on its claws and has tiny bristly hairs on its walking legs. The hermit crabs, Pagurus, climb through tidepools dragging their living quarters along with them. Molluscs at this beach are diverse again this year including Mopalia, Tectura persona, Mytillus trossulus, Littoriana sitkana, Littoriana scutulata, and Nucella lamellosa.

Two enjoyable finds this year included this sea star, 327.csn and the ghost shrimp, 308.csn Beneath the surface, the crustaceans Neotrypaea californiensis carves out u-shaped tunnels that may reach two feet below the surface before ascending to a second opening, allowing for water circulation. Ghost shrimp grow to about 4 inches in length and are a ghostly hue of pinkish orange. Similar to previous years, Ulva and eelgrass 214.csn were also present.

Thanks to Cathy M. for this data collection summary and Bill B. and J. Custer for their great photography.