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Category Archives: Spineless (marine)
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Thanks to some of the summer’s lowest tides, there’s great fun
on the beaches this week. I’ll put a few events below. If you know
of others, please add them as comments. I also wanted to recommend
one of my favorite local beaches.
Beach goers exploring Lion's
Park's broad gravel beach at low tide. Photo: Jeff
Adams
The fast currents that rush through Bremerton’s Port Washington
Narrows (the shallow, narrow waterway that connects Dyes Inlet to
Sinclair Inlet) create excellent habitat for diverse sea life.
Lion’s Park (sometimes called Lebo Field or Lebo
Recreation Area) is on the north side of the Narrows and just
northwest of downtown Bremerton.
I’m sure I’ll come back to this park in later blogs, but it will
be particularly good viewing the next couple days while the tides
are around -3.0 and the edge of the kelp bed is exposed. The City
of Bremerton has also done some amazing reworking of the park to
improve shoreline habitat and reduce stormwater pollution. Check it
out and let me know what you think.
Tides this week…
6/14 Tues; -2.9 @ 10:30am (better hurry!)
6/15 Wed; -3.1 @ 11:10
6/16 Thurs; -3.0 @ Noon
6/17 Fri; -2.6 ~12:40pm
6/18 Fri; – 1.9 ~1:15
6/19 Sun; -0.9 ~2:00
Peg Tillery, WSU Kitsap
Extension Beach Watcher Coordinator sporting the Kitsap Beach
Naturalist hat and the logo's inspiration (purple star Pisaster
ochraceus). Lion's Park, Bremerton. Photo: Jeff Adams
Beach walks and such…
Kitsap Beach Naturalists
– will join Stillwaters Environmental Center at Kingston Marina
and on the beach north of the Kingston Ferry Terminal, June 18,
12:30-2:30pm (Stillwaters will be there starting at 9:am)
– Fay Bainbridge Park, Bainbridge Island, WA, June 18,
Noon-2:30pm
– Scenic Beach State Park, Seabeck, WA, June18, 1:00-3:00pm
Harbor WildWatch and Shellfish Partners
– Purdy Sand Spit on the shore of Henderson Bay off of Hwy 302 in
Purdy, WA, June 18, Noon-4:00pm
South Sound Beach Naturalists
– Priest Point Park, June 18, 12:30pm – 3:30pm. and at
– Burfoot and Tolmie State Parks, June 19, 1:30pm – 4:30pm
Seattle Aquarium Beach Naturalists are on a
variety of east Sound Beaches
– Richmond Beach, Carkeek Park, Golden Gardens, South Alki, Lincoln
Park, Seahurst and Des Moines Beach Park, June 14, 10-1; June 15,
10-2; June 16, 10-2; June 17, 10:30-2; June 18, 11:30-3; June 19,
12:30-3:30
Hope you get to enjoy some time on the shoreline! JEff
I’ve really been enjoying a blog by Jackie Hildering, “The
Marine Detective” from Port McNeill, BC. In her most recent post to
themarinedetective.com, she share a story of a
relationships between species that literally build upon each
other.
In Humpback Whale Gooseneck Barnacles?!
She shares the wonder of diversity and discovery that never ceases
to surprise. In her research on humpback whales she and her
colleagues noticed a species specific whale barnacle on a
particular humpback. As time went on, the barnacle changed like a
gnarly wart growing hair. Finally, they got a close look at the
“hair” to find it was a barnacle specific barnacle – the humpback
whale barnacle barnacle. Share the marine detective’s wonder and
enjoy her amazing photos.
Humpback whale in Colvos
Passage near the Southworth ferry. Jeff Adams
Humpback whales sometimes find their way into Salish Sea waters
(as you may note in my Loch Ness blurr style humpback pic). So
bring the binoculars next time you hear of one (join the Orca Network list for
near daily whale sightings info). Wonder not only at the
magnificence of the whale, but see if you can spot a humpback whale
barnacle, or even a barnacle with a medusa doo. Cheers! JEff
The last opportunity of the season to collect our outer coast’s
famous razor clams (Siliqua patula – Latin for Pod
open since it looks like a newly germinated seed pod) is today (5/18) through Sunday (5/22). The
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has a whole series of
pages devoted to razor clams, including how to dig them and their relationship with domoic acid, a toxin
that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning and is produced by the
group of diatoms called Pseudo-nitzschia. So far, the
razor clam beaches have the Department of Health
OK for harvesting razors this week.
If you’re looking for a spur-of-the-moment staycation you might
give this some thought. Our Salish Sea clams generally stay in one
place while you rake/dig them near the surface or chase their neck
down deep. Razor clams take a different approach on their beaches
of deep sand. They have a specialized foot that can rapidly extend,
long and pointed, straight down into the sand. Once extended, the
end of the foot expands to act as an anchor. Muscles then contract
and pull the entire clam deeper into the sand. You shovel, they
plunge, you shovel, they plunge… the chase is on!
Jackknife clam from Foulweather
Bluff preserve. Jeff Adams
You might imagine, such an approach wouldn’t work well in many
Salish Sea beaches because of the mix of sand gravel and cobble
that are often dominant. Hence, we fjord-folk have to travel to the
open coast and bravely face the Pacific expanse to forage for these
delicacies.
On the other hand, we do have a very similar-looking species,
called the jackknife clam or blunt razor clam (Solen
sicarius, meaning something like Pipe dagger-man,
ouch!). Its shiny, oblong, beige to brown shell is similar to the
razor clam, but certainly unique among Salish Sea clams. The shell
of a jackknife, however, is relatively narrow and more squared off
on the ends. Also, the hinge, where the two shells connect, is at
one end of the shell instead of near the middle. That’s pretty
unusual to see among our clams.
Partially buried jackknife clam
shell, from Foulweather Bluff preserve. Jeff Adams
The jackknife clam is not often seen alive since it prefers sand
and mud from the very lowest tides down to about 180′. Jackknife
clams (up to 5″ long) also dig a more permanent burrow than a razor
clam, whose burrow fills and empties of sand more regularly. The
jackknife burrow may be 15″ deep or more and can be relatively
smooth lined, particularly in substrate that’s more of a hard mud.
The clam can zip quickly to the bottom when threatened. It can then
dig deeper if necessary… but it’s no longer so zippy.
Summer clamming is a great time with nutritious benefits. Just
keep your eyes on your regulations and limits, refill your holes
and don’t forget to check the Department of Health’s marine
biotoxin pages and alerts. If you head out to the Coast this
week/weekend… enjoy, feel great about supporting the local economy…
and may your skills be sharper than a razor. JEff
Harper fishing pier on the
right and ferry "dolphin" on the left. The dolphin was removed in
2009 shortly after this picture was taken. Jeff Adams
Along with the amazing sea life you might encounter around the
Kitsap Peninsula, the Salish Sea and beyond, I also want to
periodically highlight some beaches that host our saltwater
bounty.
The area of South Kitsap from the Harper pier, south into a
pocket estuary is a great place to watch birds, dive, reflect on
history and our shoreline fingerprint, launch a boat, and explore
the beach. The area uncovered by a low tide is a real hodgepodge of
public and private ownership, but the boat launch and fishing pier
are readily identifiable public access points.
Harper has a history well worth noting. The fishing pier stands
were the ferry system linked Kitsap to Vashon and West Seattle
until the early 1960’s. Until their 2009 removal, a remnant of the ferry dock
(a cluster of deteriorating creosote pilings called a dolphin)
could be seen at the end of the pier.
The Harper pier is frequented by divers and anglers alike.
For divers, there are even a couple wrecked
boats to explore beyond the pier. The sport plumose anemones, kelp
crabs, barnacles and other piling fare to enjoy. Divers also find
abundant lures, lines, bottles and mobile phones lost by the piers
other regular users. It’s also a great place to see birds and get a
great view of the Central Puget Sound.
A pile of brick from one of the
Harper Clay Products brick dump areas. Jeff Adams
A fascinating history lies on the beach near the boat launch,
and just under the surface. The Harper Clay Products Company
started making bricks from nearby clay in the late
1800’s (click here for some great old photos and maps). The
good bricks can still be seen in Pioneer Square buildings in
Seattle and in the Governor’s Mansion in Olympia. The discarded
bricks, however, are abundant near the boat launch as one of the
“brick dump” areas used by the factory. The bricks wind up
supporting barnacles, rockweed and some other animals that live on
hard surfaces, though in the areas where they’re piled deeply, they
don’t do any favors for the mudflat organisms that would have been
there in their absence.
A rich pocket estuary and salt marsh lies to the south of the
boat launch and road. The culvert that feeds this area is the
subject of restoration interest, with the intent of broadening the
salt marsh habitat to its historic extent.
As for this week’s great low tides…
Our first -3 tides of the season are today and tomorrow. Excellent
mid-day minus tides continue through Sunday. As a bonus, it looks
like we’re even in for a few sunny days.
A layer of discarded Harper
bricks can be seen on the eroded edge of the boat launch. Picklweed
and grass now grow on top. Jeff Adams
Head out to Harper or your favorite walking, birding,
shellfishing, trash cleaning, beachcombing, all around breathtaking
beach to enjoy the low tides and maybe a bit of sunny and sixty for
a change. Time to trade knee boots for sandals? Cheers! JEff
Thanks to Jim Aho of Illahee for sharing a report of an Atlantic
or Maine lobster caught from the community dock. It’s third hand
information, but wouldn’t be the first time an Atlantic lobster has
been found in the Puget Sound – 1999, 2008. The 2008 discovery lead to some interesting
exchanges between divers who liked the idea of seeing something
unusual on their dives, and those who understood the risk
non-native species pose.
People with good intentions buy and release lobsters. Someone
even wrote about their dilemma to buy and release
lobsters and in the end how they did the right thing. But the
fact that someone is putting that much thought into it means that
it’s on the minds of many. The presence of lobsters in the our
marine waters clearly shows that some follow through with their
thoughts. Maybe well intentioned, but a horribly dangerous habit to
get into.
Releasing one may help that individual live a little longer, but
just one can cause direct harm by eating and out-competing our
native species (they’re opportunists eating fish, crabs, clams,
mussels, sea urchins…) and can have even greater impact by
spreading disease. I don’t know if conditions are suitable here for
lobsters to successfully reproduce, but it’s just not worth the
risk.
Should you ever find an Atlantic/Maine lobster, please snap a
photo and send a message with location and date to me (jaws@uw.edu) and/or to the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator, or
call 877-9-INFEST. We may just continue to catch these odd
individuals here and there, but should we start to see reports
clustered in an area, this may be a species we would have a chance
to eradicate. Thanks for keeping your eyes peeled and reporting the
unusual! JEff
The ochre star (Pisaster
ochraceus) is sometimes called the purple sea star and is probably
what comes to mind for most of us in the Puget Sound when we hear
"starfish". Photo: Jeff Adams
A couple weeks in but happy new year! Every year, I enjoy new
shoreline experiences and marvel at all there is to know and all
that is unknown. 2010’s treasures were a couple octopus. I wonder
what this year will bring?
I wanted to write a short note to draw your attention to a
pair of upcoming (this Saturday!) beach walks and share a couple
images from January beach walks past.
Please join the Kitsap Beach Naturalists at one of two locations
Saturday (January 15) evening from 7:30-8:30pm (click here for flier). Dress appropriately and
bring some form of portable light.
Bainbridge Island, ferry dock – meet @ BI
Senior Community Center on Brien Drive
Bremerton, Evergreen Park – meet at the park
boat ramp
Our final winter beach walk for the season will be February 15,
7:30-8:30pm at the Manchester boat launch. We’ll meet at the
library and head down to the beach from there.
Sunflower star (Pycnopodia
helianthoides) cruising the beach on water powered tube feet.
Photo: Jeff Adams
I always rave about how fun and fascinating these events are.
Winter minus tides are pretty smooth sailing for intertidal
organisms – no sun, no heat, no light (for predators), little
activity on the water and beach. With waves and cold as their
biggest concerns, they’re generally just care free chilling until
the tide returns.
For the next week, we’ll have good low tides between 6:pm and
midnight (the low gets progressively later each night) so take an
evening stroll on the beach whenever you get the chance. Don’t
forget to go slow, look around and enjoy the nightlife. You never
know what lies just outside your beam.
Squid at the surface of
Bremerton Marina. Photo: Jeff Adams
The Port Orchard to Bremerton foot ferry is a great way to avoid
driving or biking around Sinclair Inlet when you just want to get
to downtown Bremerton from south Kitsap. As a bonus, you get a few
moments on each side for sea creature viewing. You’re almost
guaranteed to see plumose anemones, giant pink stars, mussels and
barnacles on pilings and floating structures. You’re likely to see
a kelp crab and a seaweed or two.
On one occasion, I thought I was watching a sick/disoriented
smelt or herring in its death throws. That turned out to be a half
truth. It was actually a squid working on a recent catch. It’s
unusual to see them at the surface in the daylight.
To ring in October, I peered over the ferry pier on the
Bremerton side to see my first big marine jelly smack! As I
watched, the flood tide propelled hundreds of moon jellies over,
under and around the man-made structures of the Bremerton ferry
docks and marina.
Kris Brander saw this fabulous
smack of moon jellies (Aurelia aurita) boatside at the Brownsville
marina on August 11, 2010. Photo by: Kris Bradner
The animals are beautiful. They are nearly clear except for the
four leaf clover shaped reproductive organs at their center. The
characteristic jellyfish pulse is also gracefully mesmerizing.
An observant and curious boater took a great picture of a dense
smack of moon jellies at the Brownsville marina on August 11th of
this year. The image worked its way around UW Aquatic and Fisheries
Sciences department, and received several responses. One referred
to the recent (July, 2010) conference… Third International Jellyfish Blooms Symposium.
Our region’s own Jenny Purcell of Western Washington University
organized the first session listed on the conference page and
provided a session summary that really hits on the complexities of
jelly blooms.
Globally, blooms impact economies and the environments that
support them. Lots of factors can go into creating blooms,
including climate change, altered salinity and excess
nutrients/food. Murkier water and low oxygen can also favor jellies
over their fish competitors. Even manmade structures in the water
can create extra habitat for to support the jellyfish life cycle.
Fishing can also remove some of their predators and
competitors.
The life cycle of a jelly is a strange (though not uncommon)
combination of sexual and asexual reproduction and of planktonic
(floating in the water) and benthic (attached to a surface in the
water) forms. The jellies we see floating around are the adult male
or female medusa. The boys put their sperm into the water (like
many marine critters). The girls use the sperm to fertilize eggs
that they brood until the larvae are released into the water. The
larvae soon find a shaded place (that’s why man-made structures
come in handy) to settle and grow into a polyp – like a tiny
anemone. That polyp divides into a budding colony and each bud
breaks off to grow into a new medusa. You might check out the
Jelly Zone
for more about jellies.
Part of a smack of lion's mane
jellies (Cyanea capillata - red means don't touch!). There were
about 20 lion's manes on the beach at Friday Harbor on September
24th, 2010 with more washing in. Photo: Jeff Adams
But why is an aggregation of jellyfish called a “smack”. I don’t
know, any ideas? Sarah Asper-Smith of Alaska found odd group names
so intriguing that she illustrated an ABC book with unusual
names for each letter called Smack of Jellyfish. It comes out
in November. Good stuff.
With my wife and oldest son’s help, we came up with a few
aggregation names we feel should catch on…
bull kelp bed –> a flogging
sand dollar bed –> a treasure
urchin bed –> a thorn
crab aggregation –> a drool
dogwinkle snail gathering –> a pound
Is anyone with me? Please comment with your own inspired new
name for an aggregation of something. Have a jolly jelly day!
JEff
Foulweather Bluff Preserve
looking north across expansive eelgrass beds. Photo: Jeff
Adams
The new moon in June is upon us. Accompanying it are likely the
lowest daytime tides of the year. Better yet, the forecast suggests
we’re in the 70’s and sunny to partly sunny this weekend. What a
great time to get out to the beaches!
Some planned events for Saturday (June 12th) are included below,
but you can also plan your own adventure. It varies by your
location, but the approximate tides and times are…
Kitsap Beach Naturalist
volunteer Stephanie Lewis-Sandy (in the hat) approaches a child to
explore her beach find. Photo: Jeff Adams
When the tide is this low on summer days, the plants and animals
are stressed by the sun, wind, and heat, so please remember to
tread lightly. Watch your feet and walk instead of running, wet
your fingers before touching plants and animals, don’t turn over
any rocks bigger than your head, and walk around the edges of the
eelgrass or kelp beds. If you’re digging clams, don’t forget to
fill your holes back in (don’t want to smother the next crop!).
A a really low tide, large
geoduck siphons extend well above the sandy beach surface of the
Foulweather Bluff Preserve. Photo: Jeff Adams
This Saturday (June 12th) you might want to join one of the
following events…
A bit of gentle excavation of a
cracked and raised area on the beach often revels large moon snails
burrowed safely under the surface. Photo: Jeff Adams
Enjoy the beaches and feel free to send me notes, questions or
images of what you experience this weekend. Cheers! JEff
Thanks in large part to this blog and to professional
connections in the Sea Grant network, I had the amazing privilege
of being a guest naturalist the April 3rd performance of the the
nationally syndicated radio show A Prairie Home Companion.
The show was broadcast live from the Paramount Theater in Seattle
on April 3rd. I was referred as a potential guest for the show on
Wednesday March 31, had a conversation with Garrison Keillor (host
of Prairie Home Companion) on April Fools Day (the voice make and
date prompted a double take) and on Saturday enjoyed a casual
conversation about marine life in front of 4000 people and
4,000,000 listeners.
Jeff Adams and Geoduck with
Nell Robinson of the Henriettas (second from left) and the Royal
Academy of Radio Actors (others left to right) Sue Scott, Fred
Newman and Tim Russell. Photo: A kind person holding Jeff's
camera
It was a fabulous feeling and an honor. I have to admit though…
I couldn’t help but be a bit nervous. In the past, my musical
alter-ego has been on stages big and small, singing everything from
country to opera. This was different. I was going to be talking
about something I loved, both personally and professionally, with a
master of wit and improvisation… with no real preparation. Eek!
However, after watching everyone else in the show, my nerves
eased and it felt natural once the time came to step up to the mic.
Oddly enough, the curtain call felt even more comfortable, when I
could join in a chorus of Johnny Cash’s I Still Miss
Someone.
One-year-old Cisco Adams-Tres
with common reaction to a geoduck. Photo: Jeff Adams
Orcas, octopuses and geoducks were the sea life we spoke most
about on the show. Since a geoduck (Panopea generosa) was
my companion on the show, I’ll give them a bit of attention
here.
You can’t help but be immediately struck by the obscene enormity
of its neck and its resemblance to something you might see in the
pasture. Yet, there’s so much more to this Salish Sea icon.
This clam’s name originated from the Nisqually tribe in South
Puget Sound as “gweduc”, meaning “dig deep”. As Europeans
transcribed the name, they manged to go from gweduc to gooeyduck or
goeduck to geoduck. Gee-o-duck? No matter how it’s written, Salish
Sea residents still call them by their proper name, while those
outside our region tend to be confounded by the matter.
The geoduck can be found from Kodiak, Alaska to Newport Bay,
California, but it’s probably best known from the Salish Sea.
The geoduck wins the title of “world’s largest burrowing clam”,
averaging over 2 pounds but sometimes weighing 10 pounds or more
with necks over a yard in length. They are also among the oldest
animals in the world, living in excess of 140 years
Geoduck siphon show. Fairly
easily identified by the smooth, cream colored appearance of the
openings. Photo: Jeff Adams
A geoduck’s long neck actually consists of two hose-like
siphons. The incurrent siphon brings plankton and detritus rich
water to the body, 3 or 4 feet down into the muck. The water passes
across the gills which extract oxygen but also use mucus to glean
food from the water before it makes the long journey through the
excurrent siphon, back up out of the sediments.
Of course, you’d never know any of this from what you see on the
beach. Only the tip of their siphons extends above the seafloor,
though it may be several inches of the tip.
Digging a duck is a challenge since they’re so deep and so low
in the intertidal. You have to race against the tide to dig deep
before the tide overtakes your hole.
Geoduck siphon "show". The neck
may sometimes be sticking several inches to a foot out of the sand
at low tide. Photo: Jeff Adams
If you do manage to get one (from the beach or the market),
you’re in for a treat. There’s a lot of meat to a geoduck, and
amazingly enough, the meat is quite sweet. Tenderize it a bit,
slice it up, role it and flour and toss it in a frying pan. Mmmmm.
You can find several recipes and a everything else you could want
to know about geoducks in Field Guide to the Geoduck by
David Gordon, who is now Washington Sea Grant’s science writer.
You may also enjoy the lyrics and sheet music of Dig a Duck a Day.
More recently, a Canadian band called the Bottomfeeders and a
Seattle area Band called the Whateverly Brothers both have great
geoduck songs. You can here the Bottomfeeders and Dig a Duck a
Day on the fabulous duckumentary 3 Feet
Under: Digging Deep for the Geoduck (trailer). So much great stuff about geoducks! Enjoy
and may the force be with you if you hope to dig a duck a day.
JEff
Slug is a term used for shell-less gastropods (stomach foots).
The sea slugs are remarkably diverse, ornate and favorites of beach
combers and divers. Then there’s the oft maligned land slugs… I
pulled a board off the ground this weekend as saw a dozen small
slugs, probably of two difference species, both introduced and all
probably waiting to mow down whatever I might plant in the garden.
But then I found a banana slug nearby. Who could malign a banana
slug? Naturally, I had to show my kids. It sat in my hand for a
moment before one optical tentacle slowly peaked out, then another,
then its sensory tentacles… Left a heck of a slimy, sticky mess on
my hand. Cool banana slugs reminds me of a recent story that involved two sea-through land slugs, an
engaged citizen and a University of Washington scientist. It’s
an absolute treat to scientists when interesting creatures or
images are brought to our attention. Please share your
observations. I’d love to include some in this blog.
Frosted nudibranch (Dirona
albolineata). Photo: Jeff Adams
Oh right, aquatic things… The other reason I had slugs on the
brain is that we encountered two lovely creatures during a recent
beach walk. One was the sea lemon (Anisodoris nobilis), a
fruity-smelling sponge eater. The other and most striking was the
frosted nudibranch (Dirona albolineata). It’s also called
the white-lined Dirona (albo-lineata = white-lined). The
white edges of its cerata (the frilly things on its body) are
distinctive, while the body can be white to light orange or
purple.
The frosted nudibranch is a predator, crunching away on
bryozoans and even small snails. It doesn’t eat anemones like some
of its similarly frilly aeolid cousins and thus doesn’t incorporate
the anemone’s stinging cells into its cerata. However, when
threatened by a predator, it will readily shed its cerata and makes
a run for safety.
Serendipitously, this weekend my wife found a photo in a gallery
with a frosted nudibranch front and center and a stunning
opalescent nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis) in the
background. The label on the photograph said “Lion’s mane”, while
the label for the lion’s mane jelly (three photos down) said
“Redondo nudibranchs”. We quietly switched the labels. The
opalescent is an aeolid with stinging cells in its cerata and is
known to be voracious and cannibalistic. Maybe the photo’s title
should be changed to “Killer in the shadows” or something similarly
dramatic.
My love of slugs extends back to before I ever saw the ocean. A
favorite story of my parents – boy follows slime trails, boy brings
home 3 slugs, slugs escape jar, father enjoys slime exfoliant
between toes… Enjoy following your own slime trails! JEff
