theoutershores

Surfperch and nature on the sandy beaches

Skip to content
Menu
  • About theoutershores
  • Surfperches
  • A Variety of Life
    • Marine Algae
      • Green Algae, Chlorophyta
      • Brown Algae, Ochrophyta
      • Red Algae, Rhodophyta
    • Sponges
    • Cnidarians and Ctenophores
      • Sea Anemones
      • Jellyfishes
      • Ctenophores
    • Mollusca
      • Chitons
      • Bivalves
    • Flowering Plants
    • Vertebrates
      • Fishes Other Than Surfperches
      • Birds
  • Wrack Line
    • Wrack Line 2019
    • Wrack Line 2018
    • Wrack Line 2017
    • Wrack Line 2016
    • Wrack Line 2015
    • Wrack line 2014
    • Wrack Line 2013
    • Wrack Line 2012
Home
Search
  • Crustaceans

A Rock Crab, Blending In

  • by minustide
  • Posted on October 13, 2019October 13, 2019
  • Photo Challenge

Filling Frames on theoutershores

  • by minustide
  • Posted on October 6, 2019October 6, 2019
  • Crustaceans

Dawn Breaks on a Crustacean Clash

  • by minustide
  • Posted on September 21, 2019September 22, 2019
  • Algae

Morning Magic

  • by minustide
  • Posted on September 15, 2019
  • Photo Challenge

Seaside Silhouettes

  • by minustide
  • Posted on September 8, 2019September 8, 2019
  • Algae

Dreamy Drift Macrocystis

  • by minustide
  • Posted on July 24, 2019
  • Algae

Melobesia, a Coralline Crust on Seagrasses

  • by minustide
  • Posted on July 18, 2019

Posts navigation

Page 1 Page 2 … Page 33 Next Page

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.

Great Nature Writing, Natural History, and Photography Blogs

  • Ekostories
  • Lightscapes Nature Photography Blog
  • Notes from a California naturalist
  • The Natural History of Bodega Head

Marine Science Blogs Worth Watching

  • Deep Sea News
  • Floating Forests
  • JellyBiologist – Science, art, and jellyfish
  • NOAA Ocean Explorer
  • Scientists@Sea

Recent Discoveries

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 871 other followers

Like theoutershores on Facebook

Like theoutershores on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Follow Me on Instagram

Here’s a one-question ID challenge with three clues: (1) an intertidal brown; (2) lacks stipes; and (3) blades can be crinkly, strap-like, or a combination.⁣ Can you get it from the first image alone? ⁣ ⁣ Got it?⁣ ⁣ ⁣ That’s right, sea cabbage, Hedophyllum sessile. ⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: Mid intertidal⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Broad crinkly blades, like the ones featured here, predominate in protected settings. Look for long strap-like blades on surf-pounded rocks. There are all kinds of in-between combinations.⁣ ⁣ June 4, 2019 ⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #BeachNaturalist #tidepool #seaweed #algae #tbt
Unimaginable forces of surf and surge wedged a root crown in the intertidal’s highest reaches. What forces will team up to free it? ⁣ ⁣ June 5, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #oregonshores #beachnaturalist #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #tbt
Flashing back to an uncommon above-ground sighting of a common crustacean⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: Steelheaders will recognize this decapod as a sand shrimp. It’s Neotrypaea, probably N. californiensis. If sand shrimp doesn’t do it for you, bay ghost shrimp or red ghost shrimp.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: Mid- to lower reaches of mud flats and sandy, muddy substrates in sheltered waters. I found this one when a not very low tide exposed a small patch of mud, sand, and shells on Galiano Island, BC, Canada.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Orientation; One pinching claw, the one closest to the foreground here, is enlarged, making this sand shrimp a male.⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Among predators, sand shrimp are tasty morsels. For good reason, they rarely expose themselves. I found this one, along with a couple others, just after three humans unknowingly strolled over their burrows. Was that disturbance enough to get them up on the surface?⁣ ⁣ August 17, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #SalishSea #BeachNaturalist #decapoda #beaches #fbf
Ever find yourself on your belly at the edge of sand-filled tidepool, peering through a mat of red spaghetti?⁣ In the second image I move some strands out of the pool for a clearer view.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: This is one’s probably in the Gracilaria/Gracilariopsis crowd. The consensus common name is red spaghetti.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Orientation: First image- the holdfast is hidden by spaghetti and covered by sand; it’s down near bottom center. Second image- The holdfast is out of view, off to the left. ⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: Few clues to zone. Periwinkles. in the second image the spaghetti is resting on a bed of black pine. For context, this site is surf-exposed. It takes a pounding. Mostly high intertidal characteristics here.⁣ ⁣ June 5, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #BeachNaturalist #tidepool #seaweed #algae #tbt
Flashing back three years to a not super common driftline find.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: This tunicate is a compound ascidian, probably Aplidium. The ones I’ve come across are firm to the touch and pink. You may hear people call them sea pork, regrettably.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: I’ve only seen these colonies washed ashore in beachcast events, near shallow submerged reefs. Undisturbed, you might find them in the lowest rocky intertidal or in the subtidal zone.⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: This colony is about 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) in length. Zooids are barely visible beneath a gelatinous tunic. They’re filter feeders.⁣ ⁣ September 23, 2016⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #oregonshores #beachnaturalist #beaches #tunicate #beachcombing #driftline #wrackline #tideline #tbt
This fight sequence spans eight seconds. During that time I was lost in their world. When the battle ended I was left wondering which one was the victor.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: These titans are California beach hoppers, Megalorchestia californiana.⁣ ⁣ Notes on Zones: You’ll find these hoppers approximately at the reach of tide, or above. They have an affinity for drifted seaweed, but they avoid getting their feet wet. Look for them around drying drift bull kelp, feather boa, and other drifted organic debris.⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: California beach hoppers are common amphipods on exposed beaches. Male are famous for battling over burrows. If you want to get to know them, pick a still morning and get on the beach by the first light of dawn. A big one is close to an inch (2.5 cm) long.⁣ ⁣ August 1, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #oregonshores #beachnaturalist #beaches #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #fbf
Throwing back to that Galiano Island sunrise⁣ ⁣ August 20, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #salishsea #beachnaturalist #tbt
Tolerant of sea spray⁣ ⁣ Notes on names: Salal, Gaultheria shallon. Same family as cranberry, blueberry, and rhododendron.⁣ ⁣ Natural history notes: It’s not unusual to find salal wherever the forest drops steeply down to the shore. Occasionally, patches of salal overhang the cobbles or even beach sand.⁣ ⁣ August 1, 2019⁣ ⁣ #pnw #oregoncoast #oregonshores #beachnaturalist #oregonnativeplants #ericaceae #fbf
Throwing back to that crab in the August driftline. If you walk the beaches much, you know crab molts and carcasses are common wrack. Can you identify this one? ⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: With a shell about four inches (10.2 cm) wide, this is a decent-sized rock crab. On the northern Oregon coast we expect only two rock crabs to reach this size. This one is easy to identify by the red spots on its underside. It’s Romaleon antennarium (previously Cancer antennarius), the spot-bellied or Pacific rock crab. I’ve seen it called brown rock crab too. Do you notice less spots on the belly than you might expect, given the common name? you’re right, the abdomen, what you might call the belly, is missing here. ⁣ ⁣ Notes on zones: You can find them among the rocks and sand-filled pools at very low tides, but I come across more drifted molts (spring and summer) and carcasses.⁣ ⁣ August 1, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #oregonshores #beachnaturalist #beaches #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #tbt
Aglaophenia⁣ ⁣ Notes on Names: If Aglaophenia doesn’t roll off your tongue, try ostrich plume hydroid. Around the edges and out of focus- (1) crustose reds; (2) a bladed red, Hymenena/Crptopleura (probably) in the lower left corner; and (3) compound tunicates, upper left.⁣ ⁣ Notes on the Zone: Ostrich plumes lean toward low intertidal, or lower. So does Hymenena/Crptopleura. I’d call this a low to very low intertidal scene.⁣ ⁣ Natural History Notes: Most of the live ostrich plumes I find are attached to vertical rocks and other structure (e.g., kelp stipes) in wave-swept settings. The longest plumes seen here are about 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) long. ⁣ ⁣ August 1, 2019⁣ ⁣ #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #oregonshores #beachnaturalist #tidepools #hydroids #tbt

TOS Tag Cloud

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 Lissocrangon stylirostris 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 tide pools tidepools tides turkish towel walleye surfperch wrack line year in review zonation

TOS Logo

me & theoutershores

  • About theoutershores
  • Surfperches
  • A Variety of Life
  • Wrack Line
Blog at WordPress.com.
Press Enter To Begin Your Search
×
M.B. HENRY

Following the Path to the Past

From Pyrenees to Pennines

We went to France ..... and then we came back.

Wildonline.blog

British Wildlife & Photography

Life in Yellows

Let the warm yellows soothe your soul...

INFJ PHD

Valuing quiet and solitude in academe.

DaleGreeneArts

A Total Eclipse of the Art

John's Space .....

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

scillagrace

Striving to live gracefully

theoutershores
Blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel