theoutershores

Surfperch and nature on the sandy beaches

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  • Bivalves

The Curves and Colors of California Mussels

  • by minustide
  • Posted on January 16, 2019
  • Year End Recap

A View From the 2018 Wrack Line Through My Eyes

  • by minustide
  • Posted on January 1, 2019January 1, 2019
  • Year End Recap

Beachcombing theoutershores: a 2018 Retrospective

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 31, 2018December 31, 2018
  • Photo Challenge

Along the Winter Drift Line

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 22, 2018December 31, 2018
  • Crustaceans

Pollicipes, Magical in the Morning

  • by minustide
  • Posted on November 11, 2018November 11, 2018
  • Bivalves

Standing Out in Mytilus trossulus

  • by minustide
  • Posted on November 5, 2018
  • Crustaceans

Giant Barnacles, Balanus nubilus, Generous Intertidal Hosts

  • by minustide
  • Posted on October 21, 2018

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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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I’m throwing back to summer to showcase red sea leaf, Erythrophyllum delesserioides, and its crimson blades cascading down the wall of a surge channel. If you happened across red sea leaf this time of year the blades would probably be in tatters or worse. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #seaweed #rhodophyta #erythrophyllum #tbt
You might come across this pelagic drifter in the winter tide line. If you do, will you be ready? Of course you will. It’s Thetys vagina, a free swimming salp. For scale, the freshly beach cast individual shown here would fit in your hand, spilling over both sides. #intertidal #OregonCoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #salps #fbf
Every so often patches of blue-black mussels pop up on high intertidal rocks. What are they? That’s a stumper. I used to call them Mytilus trossulus, and it could be true, but it turns out there are look-alikes on our shores, and they hybridize! Around here, they all go by blue or bay mussels. On the exposed coast, patches of blues appear most often on high rocks in the zone of acorn barnacles, Balanus glandula. My experience is, patches stay small and don’t persist long. Do they get knocked off their perch by rough surf? Perhaps instead, they get eaten (they are a delicacy, and the rocky intertidal is rich in predators happy feast on them). You’ll probably notice one or more orangish-brown representatives in any patch of blue mussels. #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #tidepool #molluscs #bivalves #mytilus #tbt
The recipe for boisterous beaches, bubbling and gurgling with crustaceans and worms, and exploding with shorebirds, includes a generous measure of drift kelp. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #seaweed #kelp #Nereocystis #fbf
Drift line detail (Winter) #intertidal #oregoncoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #tbt
If you come upon these spiny pinkish tubes in the winter drift line will you know what you’ve found? They’re beach cast pyrosomes- pelagic colonial tunicates. They appeared on Oregon beaches in the winters of 2016-17 and 2017-18. Will they make a showing this winter? #intertidal #oregoncoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #tunicate #pyrosome #fbf
#tbt to mid-summer and a lush bed of red. This is almost certainly Prionitis sternbergii. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #seaweed #rhodophyta
A tangle of drift bull kelp, lost line, and big wood on the backshore shelf. It takes high surf to move material up onto the shelf. Bull kelp is a source of nutrition for beach and foredune plants and animals. Detritivores will make quick work of it. #intertidal #oregoncoast #oregonshores #wrackline #hightide #bullkelp
Drift bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, is a sign of the season. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #seaweed #kelp #Nereocystis #fbf
Valves weathered by sand scouring, some of them fractured by unknowable forces, a timeworn chiton waits out daylight. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #tidepool #chiton #mopalia #tbt

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Amphistichus rhodoterus anal fin barnacle barnacles beaches beach hopper 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 Lissocrangon stylirostris low tide Megalorchestia californiana ocean orange Pacific mole crab Pisaster ochraceus Psettichthys melanostictus redtail surfperch sand sole seascapes sea star sea star wasting syndrome shiner surfperch silver surfperch smooth bay shrimp Staghorn Sculpin starfish surfperch surf zone tide pools tidepools tides turkish towel walleye surfperch wrack line year in review zonation

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