theoutershores

Surfperch and nature on the sandy beaches

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heading out of thee harbor, orly morning sunshine
  • Surfperch

Surfperch Summit

  • by minustide
  • Posted on March 6, 2013October 22, 2017
  • Wrackline

It’s a Salp

  • by minustide
  • Posted on February 23, 2013October 22, 2017
A distant bonfire on the beach
  • Surfperch Prey

Stranded Sticklebacks

  • by minustide
  • Posted on February 17, 2013October 21, 2017
exposed on sand; early morning light
  • Crustaceans

Dabbling with Crustacean Competition

  • by minustide
  • Posted on February 2, 2013October 21, 2017
buch of sticks and kelp in the sand make a good sized fort on the beach
  • Castles in the Sand

Castles in the Sand

  • by minustide
  • Posted on January 8, 2013October 22, 2017
  • Wrackline

King Tide

  • by minustide
  • Posted on December 19, 2012October 7, 2017
  • Staghorn Sculpin

Does Color Matter when Cammo Rules?

  • by minustide
  • Posted on November 29, 2012October 7, 2017

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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.

Great Nature Writing, Natural History, and Photography Blogs

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Marine Science Blogs Worth Watching

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With spring comes the promise of delicious identification mysteries. Would any of us want it another way? This red, perched cheerfully on top of a rounded sand-washed upper intertidal rock, is tempting but impenetrable. And that’s the thing, isn’t it? ‘Course if someone wants to break the spell and let me know what it is, I’m good with that too. Either way, the erect, fleshy, round-tipped blades are a feast for the senses. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #seaweed #algae #tbt
Since we’re getting to know gapers, here’s part of the shell’s bleached exterior. On the beach, remains like this might look and feel chalky. The gape in gaper comes from the area where the two shells (valves) don’t fit together. On this fragment the gape is at the lower right. In a live gaper, it’s where you’d see a protruding fleshy neck. The neck houses paired siphons that take in and expel water. #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #bivalves #GaperClams #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #fbf
The cup-shaped projection at the bottom of this bleached fragment is a gaper giveaway. In this case, fat gaper, Tresus capax. If you find one on a surf-swept beach, you can be sure it’s a drifted shell from a sister ecosystem. #intertidal #pnw #OregonCoast #OregonShores #bivalves #GaperClams #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #tbt
Flashing back to a low tide scene from an earlier April. In the distance, the loving touch of fog on a maritime forest. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #fbf
Descriptions of bangia-like reds are apt to include references to the filaments which resemble, in shape and habit, human hairs on a balding head. The imagery is all the stronger because bangia favors rounded rocks, which take on a curiously head-like appearance when topped with a mop of limp purplish-brown filaments. Last week I stood mesmerized in a shallow high intertidal swash watching filaments wave in the ebb and flow. This clip captures the essence of the bangia-human hair resemblance, at least the wet version. Bald sea hair is a reasonable common name, if you are so inclined. The resemblance is equally strong with dry filaments exposed at low tide. When the filaments get really dry they turn black, or nearly so, accounting for another of bangia’s common names, black sea hair. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #seaweed #tbt
Shell polished by surf and sand, a shy grazer; patient. So hard to imagine an earlier life, adrift; bobbing plankter. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #limpet
March is a good month to take a leap of faith, so I’m going to tentatively say this patch of brown is Phaeostrophion irregulare, sand-scoured false kelp. What do you think? #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #seaweed #tbt
Lottia digitalis on the rocks #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #limpet
Looking for an example of camouflage? What do you think about these Lottia digitalis? They blend right in with the barnacles. I see four. I’ve got my eye on some living on a rock substrate, stay tuned. #intertidal #pnw #oregoncoast #OregonShores #limpet
Boundless float diversity on Pacific shores #intertidal #OregonCoast #OregonShores #beachcombing #wrackline #tideline #fbf

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