What treasures await?Chrysaora fuscescens, Pacific sea nettleAurelia, moon jellyDifferent ecosystems come together in sea wrackBeach hopper diggingsAn old friendLepasBeach hoppers make short work of a bull kelp stipeDeath in the driftDungeness pinching claw***
Sea wrack treasures just aheadHitchhikers | LepasWondrous sea wrackPinching claw | Metacarcinus magisterRazor | Siliqua patellaeThatched barnacles | Semibalanus cariosusDrifted from the rocky intertidal | Mytilus californianusLots to identify hereDungeness carapace | Metacarcinus magisterOral surface | Dendraster excentricusExoskeleton | Emerita analogaMoon jelly | AureliaMelobesia on drift PhyllospadixYou never know what you’ll find in the sea wrack***
July 14, 2020
Smooth bay shrimp molt | Lissocrangon stylirostrisPacific mole crab trail | Emerita analogaDrift surfgrass, PhyllospadixMolted Dungeness carapace | Metacarcinus magisterDungeness crab molt | Metacarcinus magisterLaminaria sinclairiiBirds excavate female Emerita to eat only their eggs | Detached telson, upper right***
July 13, 2020
Tideline treasures just aheadLepas on a drifted logDrifted Alaria marginataMolted Dungeness crab carapace | Metacarcinus magisterFresh Dungeness crab molt | Metacarcinus magisterMostly crustacean molts in night’s tidelineFried egg jelly fragment | Phacellophora camtschaticaA good-sized jellyfish |Phacellophora camtschatica***
July 7, 2020
What finds await in the sea wrack?Fifty paces down the beach, a clean tide lineDrift eelgrass, ZosteraBroken down sand dollar test, Dendraster excentricusPurple olive show, Callianax biplicataA sea wrack mystery turns out to be DictyotaUnfortunate female mole crab, Emerita analoga | Birds key in on the eggs (only a remnant remains)Sea nettle fragment, Chrysaora fuscescensFemale Dungeness molt, Metacarcinus magisterA sea wrack treasure trove***
July 6, 2020
A fairly clean tide lineThe molt is on | Barnacle feeding appendages Molted Dungeness carapace, Metacarcinus magisterA stranded pleuronectid | Starry flounder? Curlfin turbot?Mole crab molt, Emerita analoga***
January 26, 2020
Lost jarFishing floatBait jar lidDrift surfgrassDrift bull kelpThe wadBait jarSitka spruce branch tipLost squirt bottleWrack lineEnd of the driftTubeworm casings, Spiochaetopterus costarumPonyDirty drift***
January 25, 2020
Any treasures waiting down on the beach?Typical January drift- lots of terrestrial materialA lot of force went into thisBull kelp, always a photographer favoriteUpside down drifted stump, exposedBony fish jaw?Drifted stump, its base extends deep into the sandBig wrackDungeness carapacePlastic wall anchor with barnaclesThe fire inside***