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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Nudibranch and A Crow

During this, our last week of running trips on the boat, some of my coolest sightings have been on the dock to and from the boat.

There is one particular dock piling that seems to be a favorite of nudibranchs. Earlier this month I shared a photo of a golden dirona I saw there, but this week I found a clown dorid (Triopha catalinae):


I usually don't take much notice of the crows that hang out on the dock, but this one caught my eye. I had to do a double-take and and compare it to another nearby crow to confirm, but it was definitely missing the tip of its beak! Take a look:


It's hard to tell without taking a closer look, so here's a comparison with a normal crow's beak:


This makes the third blog post featuring an animal missing a body part. If you missed the other two, they were a fox without a tail and a Dall's porpoise without a dorsal fin. It's amazing to me how they're able to adapt and survive after such an injury, especially in the case of the crow. You've also got to wonder what kind of bind they got themselves into to end up this way! Any theories?

4 comments:

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

That's one cool nudibranch. I like him/her/it.

Cheers

D

Jeanne said...

Excellent eye you have to catch this crow!The crow reminds me of Chris's duck Lily, who has a retracted upper beak.

Warren Baker said...

crows will stick their beak into anything, they are so curious!

Looking forward to a kinglet pic. Monika :-)

Monika said...

Dave - I never know which gender pronoun to use for intertidal creatures....

Jeanne - Thanks! You're right, it is like Lily!

Warren - Very true....I wish it it could share its story! Since it may be a while before I get another one, you can see one golden-crowned kinglet photo here:
http://orcawatcher.blogspot.com/2009/01/birding-lime-kiln.html