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Surfperch and nature on the sandy beaches

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  • Photo Challenge

Invitation to a Tidepool Treasure Hunt

  • by minustide
  • Posted on February 25, 2020February 27, 2020
  • Photo Challenge

Examining Leading Lines in Scenes from the Intertidal

  • by minustide
  • Posted on January 19, 2020
  • Wrack Line

Take a Walk on the Wrackline: A Drifted 2019

  • by minustide
  • Posted on January 1, 2020
  • Year End Recap

Beachcombing theoutershores: a 2019 Retrospective

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 31, 2019
  • Year End Recap

Favorite Photos from theoutershores, 2019

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 29, 2019
  • Wrackline

Driftline on Display

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 19, 2019
  • Birds

The Trouble with Surfperch of a Certain Size

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 6, 2019December 14, 2019

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Beach Combing

theoutershores

My thoughts and experiences on the exposed outer coast. Lots of photos and a few words about intertidal nature. I’m always thinking about sandy beach connections to its sister ecosystems, the rocky intertidal, estuaries, and coastal forests. You can see photos of things I’ve found washed ashore on my Wrack Line pages. If you are looking for new takes on common intertidal algae, plants, and animals, I’m always updating my Variety of Life pages. I love the full-page layout on all theoutershores’ pages.

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Maritime forest remnants accumulate on the cobbles⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ These are fresh remnants, nothing like the driftwood of my imagination, smoothed and rounded by forces of surf and sand. Bleached. The driftwood in my mind slips and, over time, slides into the river where it gets carried downstream in high winter flows, across the mouth and out to sea. The wood accumulating on the cobbles here, has never seen a river, nor has it, to any degree, been wetted by the sea.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Having never been to sea, this material isn’t driftwood at all. It’s fresh off the mountain, all roots and branches. Soon enough, winter’s fury will wash it into the sea. Some, the largest among it, will one day wash ashore with genuine driftwood credentials.⁣⁣ ⁣ January 26, 2020⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #SeaWrack #fbf
Throwing back to June 4, 2019⁣ ⁣ Exposed kelp, foreground, signals low tide, an invitation to treasure hunt. ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #tidepools #tbt
Lighting it up⁣⁣ ⁣ Notes on names: Sunrise ignites an Amphissa, probably A. columbiana, trekking over a sprig of inscrutable red. Odonthalia?⁣⁣ ⁣ Notes on zones: You’ve got those reds in the background and a barely discernible California mussel over on the left. How about mid-intertidal?⁣⁣ ⁣ Natural history notes: A scavenger, A. columbiana, assuming that’s what it is, seeks decaying animal tissues. At least that’s what I’ve read- I’d like to see it for myself.⁣⁣ ⁣ June 4, 2019⁣⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #tidepools #PacificShells #fbf⁣⁣
Emerald plaits⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: This is a bit of a leap of faith for me. I think it’s Acrosiphonia, the only patch I’ve come across. If it is Acrosiphonia, it’s probably A. coalita, green rope. On either side of it, the green blades are Ulva. Down at the lower right, Halosaccion. There a few little brown barnacles (Chthalamus) too.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: This patch is from a semi-protected perch in the mid intertidal.⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Acrosiphonia coalita is known for its ropey strands. The specific epithet coalita (Latin= coalesced) refers to the way individual strands coalesce into “ropes.” These clumpy tresses are too short to look ropey- if this is A. coalita, they’ll grow out a bit by the end of the growing season.⁣ ⁣ June 4, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #seaweed #tidepools #algae #tbt⁣
A superb drifter⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: Sargassum muticum is a brown called wireweed. I’ve read the wireweed part, but I haven’t heard anyone go as far as to say wireweed, sargassum being the more charming handle. Sargassum is a diverse group, but S. muticum is the only one we are likely to find in the Pacific Northwest. ⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: I don’t see attached Sargassum much on the northern Oregon coast. On the central coast, it can be abundant in high tidepools on wave-swept reefs, but I don’t have much more experience with its preferences than that. I know it more as a drifter. ⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Lots of tiny bladders, visible in the photo, make Sargassum a superb drifter. It’s common in the Oregon wrackline, but doesn’t make up much of the sea wrack biomass.⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #seaweed #algae #beachcombing #tbt⁣
A snail of many colors⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: This shot features Nucella ostrina, the striped dogwinkle. You might want to go with northern striped dogwinkle to avoid confusing it with the southern striped dogwinkle, Nucella emarginata, which inhabits exposed rocky shores around San Francisco, California, and parts south. You’ll see two species of barnacles here. The white ones are acorns, Balanus glandula, and down along the bottom, a few little browns, Chthamalus dalli. If you look, you’ll also notice several little periwinkles, Littorina.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: The collection of invertebrates in this shot points to high intertidal. If that’s what you guessed, celebrate with your best tidepool dance!⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Striped dogwinkles like exposed, wave-swept rocks. They look peaceful, but they’re predators. Acorn barnacles beware. The two snails featured here illustrate just a little of the varied color and pattern combinations you’ll find in N. ostrina. ⁣ ⁣ May 19, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #BeachNaturalist #tidepools #fbf⁣
The semi-intimate view may make it hard to recognize this common intertidal red. Coarse branchlets spiral around the branches, giving them a bottle brush look. On somewhat protected tracts along exposed shores, you’ll see the short branches draping down over mid (maybe even high) to low intertidal rocks. Do you recognize it?⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: That’s right, Neorhodomela larix. For a common name, I hear black pine most often, but black larch makes sense. The specific epithet larix refers to larches, the branches of which N. larix is said to resemble.⁣ ⁣ June 4, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #seaweed #algae #beachcombing #tbt⁣
Still a little fire in there⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #PacificShells #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline⁣
An enriching convergence⁣ ⁣ Remnants of sister ecosystems, the maritime forest and the subtidal, meet in and enrich the intertidal. ⁣ ⁣ April 22, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #seaweed #algae #kelp #bullkelp #seaweed #algae #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #fbf⁣
⁣ Stare into the gleaming eye of a purple shore crab⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: This is Hemigrapsus nudus, glaring up at me and lending a ride to a few barnacles. They look like acorn barnacles, Balanus glandula. Also riding along, periwinkles, Littorina.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: If you’re trying to guess the zone from the photo, there isn’t much to go on. The hitchhikers are more or less from the high intertidal, but not tied to it. On exposed shores, purple shore crabs are common among jumbled mid-intertidal rocks, but they can occur higher or lower.⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Purple shore crabs will let you get close if they’re settled. Approaching when they’re out and about will cause them to move away. If you push it, insisting on a closer look, they may turn combative. This one remained docile throughout our brief photoshoot.⁣ ⁣ May 20, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #BeachNaturalist #tidepools #tbt⁣

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Amphistichus rhodoterus anal fin barnacle barnacles beaches beach hopper Beach walk bull kelp Chondracanthus exasperatus drift line driftline Embiotocidae Emerita analoga Floats high tide Hyperprosopon argenteum Hyperprosopon ellipticum intertidal intertidal zone keystone species king tide Lens-Artists Leptocottus armatus low tide Megalorchestia californiana ocean orange Pacific mole crab Pisaster ochraceus redtail surfperch sand sole seascapes sea star sea star wasting syndrome shiner surfperch silver surfperch smooth bay shrimp Staghorn Sculpin starfish surfperch surf zone tideline tidepools tide pools tides turkish towel walleye surfperch wrack line year in review zonation

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