Animals, Plants, and Algae

This page is going to be under construction a while, but it already has a few live links to various taxonomic groups. My idea is to show photos of animals, algae, and plants I encounter on theoutershores. It’s not really like a field guide, but maybe it can do some things most the field guides can’t – like show multiple views and habitats. It’s also a place where I can show off some organisms that are tough for me to ID. I’m hoping I’ll get some help from readers on those. My home waters are on the northern Oregon coast, so most of the examples come from that part of the world. Some of these species live in the intertidal zones of the exposed outer coast, but others appear out of habitat, having been washed ashore, usually dead or dying. Connections to surfperches and the sandy beaches are present in each organism represented. Below are just a few examples:

Shell, rough keyhole limpet, Diodora apspera

Northern feather-duster, Eudistylia vancouveri

Pelagic goose barnacles on a drift log

A line-up of older bull kelp stipes and pneumatocysts (floats); the blades are eroded away

Northern striped dogwinkle, acorn barnacles and ribbed limpets

Sargassum, Sargassum muticum

Giant green anemone, Anthopleura xanthogrammica

California beach hopper, Megalorchestia californiana

Sea stars, Pisaster ochraceus

Sand Sole, Psettichthys melanostictus

To see more images of animals, algae, and plants you are likely to encounter on northern Oregon beaches, click the links below:

Flowering plants
Marine algae
Sponges
Sea anemones, jellies, and the like (Cnidaria, Ctenophora)
Worms
Bryozoans
Molluscs
Crustaceans
Echinoderms
Tunicates, salps, and acorn worms (Chordata, Hemichordata)
Vertebrates, other than fishes,which are treated at Fishes Other Than Surfperches, and Surfperches